Divided Heart
Part 1: Rendezvous
By SJ and Rhea Jediknight (skyjade@globetrotter.net and
jediknight@mail2master.com)
05-04-03/26-04

This new story is a joint venture for SJ and Rhea Jediknight. Both of us have written and corrected every character of this new story, but some scenes are exclusively SJ's, and others are mine. Mostly though, what you'll read here is a hopefully blend of both of our styles and characterizations.

Summary: While a diplomatic charming operation is taking place on Coruscant, Mara discovers that her former boss has feelings for her, but before she can truly develop her relationship with him, an old friend from her imperial life resurfaces while she witnesses what could be the beginning of a relationship between Luke and the princess of Cariba. While she tries to figure her heart out though, danger looms in the shadows as an Imperial Commander plans to destroy the usurpators, once and for all.
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Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to us; everything belongs
to George Lucas. We're only writing stories for fun. See my homepage for more
details.
http://www.oocities.org/Area51/Quasar/3702

Special thanks to Rhea for bringing up the plot bunny of that story and
accepting to work on it with me Working with you is a pleasure, my
friend!

Rhea: Thanks to SJ for working on this with me. It's been fun!
___________________

"Luke," his sister warned him when he tried yet again to weasel his way out of
her latest 'duty', "you must attend this week's reception. The Cariban court
will take offense of your absence since---"

"I am the only Jedi Master, I know, I know," he grumbled, throwing her an
exasperated glance from under his eyelashes before he shook his head in
displeasure. "I don't see why my presence would be necessary though. The Jedi
Order is independent from the Republic, and I certainly do not intend to 'court'
them in order to acquire favors from their new territory."

"Luke," Leia said again, this time seriously, "they have specifically requested
your presence. The king's daughter will be present and they wish to introduce
her to you."

Great, Luke rolled his eyes in definite annoyance. Another match-making attempt.
"Leia," he sighed patiently, "I really have much more important things to do
this week than to go to Coruscant to meet yet another younger, rich dignitary.
The new students have just begun to..." His voice faded away when he noticed how
his sister's eyes turned grim. She was dead serious about his being present at
the reception.

"It is part of their customs, Luke. If we want to earn their trust further, we
must show some open-mindedness toward those."

In short, Luke summarized to himself, if he did not go, 'he' would be
responsible of a rift between the new member of the Republic and his sister's
government. "You've already promised them that I would be there, haven't you?"
he queried disapprovingly.

"I'm sorry, I had no choice," she apologized. "I know how much you hate these
arrangements."

He raised an eyebrow, perplex. "Do you?" he inquired, memories of other 'blind'
dates coming back to him.

"Yes, I do now," she reassured him. "That's why I've warned the king that I
would ascertain your presence, but nothing else. The rest will be between you
and his daughter."

"And what did he say?" he asked, aware that another custom on Cariba was to
arrange marriage like they did in the Hapes Cluster.

His sister smiled reassuringly at him. "He's accepted that part of our custom."

For a long moment, Luke considered his sister's request. He had more than his
fill of her attempts to match him with beautiful, sophisticated young ladies of
her class of citizens. The women had always been wonderful, of course, but they
had just been 'too' wonderful for a farmboy like him, he sighed glumly. He
simply wasn't cut out to fit with a dignitary of the upper class, no matter if
he believed in such categories or not.

What mattered though was that except for his sister, and his best friend Mara,
he never felt comfortable with refined companions of the opposite sex. Yet, here
was another request for him to try and match with a dignitary's daughter, and he
couldn't refuse without endangering the whole peace treaty with the human
Caribans.

Rubbing his neck in weariness, he finally gazed up at his sister once again.
"Just an evening, then I'm out of there," he warned her meaningfully. "It
really isn't a good time for me to leave the Academy at the moment."

"Deal," his sister smiled at him. "Don't worry, you won't have to talk with her
about trading business or politics. The other guests will take care of that with
the rest of the Cariban guests."

"Good," he nodded, then paused as he registered what she had just told him.
Traders? "Have you added Mara to the list of guests? She now owns her own
company--"

"Yes," Leia nodded, smirking slightly at him this time. "She's been notified.
Even though her company is still completing the distinction process from
Karrde's organization, we have considered that her expertise with the rim trade
would be most profitable to the Caribans."

"And to your convincing them to completely join the Republic and open the
markets," Luke added knowingly.

It was his turn to voice his sister's thoughts. "Well," she fumbled slightly,
"yes, and she's agreed to that. If she can sign a deal with them, the Caribans
will be her first important clients."

Knowing his friend and how determinate she was when it came to reaching her
goals, Luke suspected that even though she did not care anymore than he did
about receptions, she too had chosen to do what she had to do so as to ensure
their new peace with one of the last independent systems of the outer rim.

Well, he thought to himself next, if Mara would be on Coruscant, perhaps his
going there would not be 'that' bad after all. He hadn't seen her in a long
while.

He missed her.

"All right," he concluded with his still waiting/watching sister. "I'll leave in
a few hours. I'll be on time for the reception."

"Thanks Luke," Leia smiled fondly at him, "I'll make it up to you, I promise.
Perhaps a decent meal before you tackle this new duty?" she offered more gently.

Luke tried to not grimace too much at the prospect of eating some of his
sister's cooking. "Hmmm, well, considering the frenzy in which you'll be on that
evening, I don't think that it would be a good idea. Don't worry though," he
reassured her, "you'll have other occasions to catch up on that debt."

"Okay," his beautiful sister nodded. "See you soon then. I miss you, brother."

"I miss you too, sis," he smiled gently at her. With a last gaze, they cut off
their transmission, and he was alone with his thoughts once again.

Coruscant, he thought glumly, and another reception during which he would feel
like a fish in the middle of the Tatooine desert... unless he could find Mara.

Mara, he smiled more warmly. He was truly happy for her that she had made her
trading dream come true. Of course, he was saddened that she would probably
never train as a Jedi ever again, but, he shrugged inwardly, she would be happy.

It was the only thing that truly mattered to him.

As he called to mind his last memory of his weirdly-tempered, stand-fast,
mesmerizing friend, he made a note to himself to try and arrange to see her at
least once before returning to Yavin.

For some reason, he suddenly couldn't wait to see her again and he decided that
he might delay his return until he 'would' have a 'real' moment of friendship
with her.

But first, he reminded himself more glumly, he had a date to catch up with.

He exited the main communication room of the temple and went in search of Kam
and Streen, his two most trustee apprentices/teachers.

******
Mara Jade watched Talon Karrde, who was sitting across the three tiered
Holochess board, as he pondered his next strategy. His features were as rigid as
ever as his most powerful piece, the Monnok, gave a final cry when Mara's Houjix
outmaneuvered and defeated the computer generated beast. The young woman sat
back in her seat, a triumphant grin spreading across her face.

As he took in her rare, genuine smile, Karrde found it hard to be resentful of
her obvious victory. Forgetting the game for a moment, the smuggler studied his
good friend and colleague with new eyes.

Mara had left his group just a few months ago, yet she was already at the head
of a small but thriving business. They had just finished a tedious but lucrative
business dinner with a representative of the Everante Cluster. Aware that he was
very familiar with the intricacies of Everante law, Mara had asked for his
presence at the negotiations. After coming to an agreement with the Cluster's
representative, the two humans had decided that a celebration had been in order.

After sharing a glass of Alderaanian wine on the restaurant's grounds, they had
adjourned to her apartment. There, their holochess matches had developed into a
good natured rivalry; neither of them had wanted to abandon now that they were
no longer working together.

At the moment though, Karrde was filled with more than comradeship for his ex-
associate. She was garbed in a form fitting black and silver gown and her red-
gold hair hung in a shimmering mass of curls down her back. She was simply
stunning.

She dazzled him again with a new smile. "Face it Karrde, there's no way that you
can get out of this one."

Talon found his gaze trapped in her dancing emerald eyes and wondered if her
Jedi senses could detect his rapid pulse. He leaned back in his chair, suddenly
finding the woman seated across from him infinitely more interesting than the
game. "You're right. I know when it's time to surrender with dignity."

Mara seemed momentarily disappointed; Karrde almost laughed out loud as he
realized that she had wished to make her victory complete.

"Of course," he added gallantly, "I wouldn't want to deny you the pleasure of
watching my utter defeat."

Mara laughed and waved her hand in the air. "It's all right, I'm content to know
that I won."

Karrde watched her with avid interest now, observing details that most people
would not have noticed.

Over the last few months, Mara had grown more relaxed. She smiled more readily
and the cold reserve that Karrde had grown to associate with the beautiful woman
had lessened. He had known how much her independence meant to her, but he had
never thought how well it would suit her.

For as long as he knew her, he had always considered her to be one of his best
friends, someone he could rely upon as well as a shrewd business partner.
However, he had never realized just how much he would miss having her in his
life. Over the years, she had become a constant companion, but now, her absence
in it had left a hole.

He had always cared for her, but he was just beginning to realize just how deep
his feelings for this woman went.

Mara flicked a switch at the base of the board; the holographic pieces
disappeared with a low hum.

Before she could stand up, Karrde spoke. "Mara, Can I ask you something?"

"Since when did you ever need my permission to ask me a question?" she replied
flippantly. When she saw the intent look on his face she grew still, "What is
it, Talon? What's wrong?"

Karrde smiled slightly, enjoying the way she said his first name. "I've been
asked to attend a conference with the delegates of the Cariban court tomorrow
night."

"Organa-Solo has already invited me to attend too," Mara nodded.

"I was wondering if you would come with me?" Karrde asked.

Mara noticed that although Karrde's features were as composed as ever, he
strangely appeared slightly flushed. She could see that the pulse in his neck
was going just a bit faster than normal and she could sense his growing
nervousness. What could?..., she wondered--- then her eyes widened as she
realized that her former employer was asking her out, not as a colleague but as
a woman. "Let me get this right," she began slowly, "you are asking me out on a
date, right?"

Karrde's mouth twisted slightly and he said: "Did I just overstep my bounds?
Maybe this isn't a good idea."

Mara thought about it for a moment. Talon Karrde was an attractive man. He had
his share of females fighting for his attention at numerous social gatherings,
and she was a woman who had worked closely with him for years. She had never
thought of him as a man before, mostly because it was against her code of ethics
to get involved with her boss, but Karrde no longer was her boss, and he was
still one of her best friends. She respected him deeply and cared for him. Given
time, could her feelings develop into something more?

Karrde continued, "I tried to hide it, feeling that it was not appropriate to
get involved with a co-worker, but things have changed. You're a beautiful,
intelligent woman," he told her in an earnest way that dimly reminded her of a
farmboy of her acquaintances. "I would be honored if you would allow me to
court you, but I want you to know that I value our friendship very highly. I
don't want to do anything that would jeopardize that."

Mara gazed into his pale blue eyes, regarding him closely. For a moment, Mara
wished that his eyes were just a shade deeper, more intense, and that his hair
was dark blond. She blinked at that, trying to banish these thoughts. Where did
that come from? But she knew- Skywalker. Again. Because she knew that she would
soon see him again.

She had heard from Organa-Solo that Luke would be at the conference, with
Tarrintha Goule, the King's daughter. Although, she suspected that this
occurrence was arranged by Princess Leia.

Anyway, she pulled herself out of her musings, it would be better to attend the
gathering with someone on her arm, then alone. It would also be much better if
she could be with someone she could trust, someone she liked..., someone like
Talon Karrde.

She slowly nodded at her companion. Talon's face broke out into a broad grin. "I
would be happy to go with you... Talon."

She stood up; Karrde got to his feet as well. She could sense his joy at her
words, and a part of her was similarly buoyed. Another part, though, kept her
grounded.

"I had better go. You've had a long and profitable day. I'll pick you up at
about five?" he offered.

"That will be fine," Mara agreed.

He leaned toward her face, and Mara wondered if he were going to kiss her, then
wondered if she were ready for this or not.

As if sensing her nervousness, her companion seemed to reconsider and took her
hand instead. He kissed the back of it.

Although she wasn't sure how she felt about Karrde's sudden coming out, his
action filled her with a surprisingly warm and comfortable sensation. He raised
his head, smiled, and released her hand.

"Until tomorrow, then," he said, his voice taking on a very sensual range.

Feeling that she should say something, but at a complete loss for words, Mara
saw him to the door. She locked it behind him and her first thought was to com
Skywalker. However, as she gazed at the blank monitor when her finger hesitated
on the activation switch, she decided against it.

Almost right on the heels of that decision, a flicker through the force alerted
her that Skywalker had now entered her sensing range, and so has she his. She
reached out for a moment and wordlessly soothed him away.

It was better not to talk to him just now, she decided. Tomorrow, she would
enjoy her outing with Talon Karrde; she would not let feelings for a particular
Jedi obstruct her new hopes for future happiness.

******

Deep in the catacombs of Venia, which located in the outer sector of the Cariban
space, disgruntled imperials held a secret meeting. As he gazed at the newly-
acquired weapon, the Grand Commander felt his excitement and lust for revenge
bubble within him.

At last, he thought darkly, they had captured it. Their allies had been through
to their words and had helped his troops to infiltrate the Cariban weapon
facilities and steal a working model of their seismic accelerator.

"Of course," Commander Pakc of Intelligence warned, "this model will need to be
modified if we want it to destroy a forth of the main Rebel base."

'AKA Coruscant,' the Commander supplied for himself.

"However, the techs assure me that they will be able to complete the
modifications to your specifications."

The four other men smirked with malice.

"Perfect," the Commander acquiesced. "Have the techs work on it non-stop if they
have to. I'm going to Coruscant with my team and make sure that the other part
of our plan succeeds without a hitch. When can we expect this cargo to join us
there?" he inquired, turning toward the Intel expert.

"In three days from now, Sir, separated in five parts," the other bowed.

"Very good." A mere forty-eight hours later, the Commander would watch the
beginning of the end of Coruscant as the crust of the strained planet would
disintegrate. "Make sure to center the attack on the Republic headquarters."

"With pleasure, Sir," the others bowed to him, then left him, returning to their
duties.

Soon, he promised himself as he watched the departing group, soon he would no
longer be a power in the shadows; he would step into the light once again. He
would finally be acknowledged by everyone. For now though, he had a part to
play.

"What is the last information about the Jedi Master?" he asked his
intelligence expert.

"He is on his way to Coruscant for the Cariban conference, ETA 1000," the other
informed him.

"Most excellent," he smiled to himself.

They would truly hit them all in one, swift stroke that would make the Death
Star pale in comparison, and he himself would finally complete his last command.

******

As Luke had promised Leia, he arrived on Coruscant barely a few hours before the
beginning of the reception.

Leia had hoped fervently that he would make a detour by her place to touch base
with her, but other than a quick touch through the Force, he had avoided her,
finding refuge in his apartments.

Or so it felt to Leia anyway.

In a way, she knew that she could not ask him to do anything but what he had
already agreed, but at the same time, she had wanted to talk with him before she
would introduce him to the Cariban dignitaries. She had to at least coach him
into the proper behavior with this new culture, and she had to---

"I wonder if Luke's arm is still sore from all that twisting," her husband
commented from her side as they rode the turbolift up to the hangar floor.

"Huh?" she feigned confusion, "I don't know what you mean."

Han turned toward her, giving her a 'come-on' gaze that she had come to
understand as a warning that he could see right through her. Sometimes she was
sure that he could use the Force too for he had an uncanny ease for reading her
just as well as she could him.

"All right," she sighed, then nervously brought her hand to her mass of braided
hair. The tightly woven strands were tied in an intricate, solid knot that was
firmly affixed on the crown of her head. "I pulled diplomatic strings on him, I
admit it."

"The Caribans never requested his presence, did they?"

"But princess Tarrintha looked so eager to meet him, and the King was more than
ready to approve a marriage ---"

"But they did not 'twist' your arm into inviting him. You did."

Beaten, she sighed wearily. "I could not refuse them this privilege, Han," she
said simply. "You should have seen their smiles when I told them that I would
make sure that he would attend. They love him, Han. Everybody loves him, you
know?"

"Sure, I've been the first one to fall for his farmboy naivete," he smirked more
lightly before he turned serious once again, "but even then, Leia, I also saw
how moody he could be. He has a temper." he warned her more seriously. "You'll
have to stop pulling him around by his Jedi cloak or he might just give you the
slip one of these days."

"Luke?, she gaped at him. "He wouldn't," she shook her head in denial. "I know
my brother."

"You 'knew' him," Han pointed out knowingly. "He's changed a lot throughout the
past years. He sure isn't the farmboy I rescued from Tatooine anyway."

"I know," she sighed in agreement, then checked the glowing numbers that
indicated the floor that they had now reached. "Sometimes though, I wonder if
those changes have been for the best."

Han didn't answer her last remark. The lift finally stopped and the doors slid
open once again. Sandwiched between Leia's professional bodyguards, the couple,
garbed in refined clothing, walked toward the main door of the hangar bay of
their airspeeder.

******

As Jade and Karrde approached the casino that had been reserved for the Cariban
reception, she dimly wondered if the location had been the idea from the
president herself or from her ex-smuggler of an husband.

"Quite an unusual setting for a diplomatic reception, isn't it?" Karrde
commented beside her.

"This must hold some significance for the Cariban dignitaries. I've heard that
this treaty is very important for the New Republic," she shrugged, then pushed
her wind-blown strands of hair out of her eyes.

"But for which reason," his companion commented seriously, "their acceptance of
the New Republic? or their weapons technology?"

"Touche," she agreed, then looked up at the imposing building of the Manarai
Casino before she refocused on her escort.

Karrde was dressed in a form-fitting, rangy, thigh long jacket that was
completed by trousers that had transformed him from smuggler to gentleman for
the evening. She watched him with interest as he bowed his head in salutations
to Councilor Fey'lya and his mate when they walked past them.

When the aliens ignored them, he leaned closer to Mara's head, reclaiming her
wandering attention. "Somehow, I doubt that the setting of this reception will
change its atmosphere."

Mara absently nodded in agreement. However, she had barely heard him. Instead,
her gaze had followed the obnoxious alien and was once again riveted on the tall
building as a shiver kept running up and down her spine like a warning signal.

There was danger in there, she finally understood. It was not an immediate one,
but she would be well advised to keep her eyes peeled for any sign of deceit.

She and her handsome escort finally reached the main doors and stepped through
the entryway. She quickly made a note to herself to warn Luke about her feeling
when she would see him. She remained alert, heightening her awareness with the
help of the Force.

Wardens inspected their invitations very carefully, then when everything
appeared to be in order, they invited them to step inside. Skywalker's sister
and her retinue were near the entrance, greeting their guests. Despite the
reminder of danger, Mara decided to enjoy the evening.

The orchestra was playing music too loud and fast for a typical formal reception
while the empty space above the main gambling floor was filled with smoke and
laser-lit images and messages. As if affected by the unusual setting, the
attendees were as raucous as if they had been in a cantina on a tenth-rate
planet. Or perhaps they were even worse, Mara decided. After all, clients of
such a cantina would keep a low profile in order to avoid attracting unwanted
attention. She refocused on the welcome committee.

"Welcome Mara, Talon," Leia greeted them less formally than she had just greeted
her Cariban guests. "We're very glad that you could join us, and I personally
wish you a very profitable evening."

"Yeah, but avoid the Corellian Chance wheel. The odds are too high in favor of
the house," Han commented as he clasped her hand, then conspiratorially leaned
closer "and Lando has already cleaned it out for the evening."

"Ah, so Calrissian is the one to challenge to a game of Sabaac then," Mara
commented in amusement as she shook hand with Skywalker's best friend.

Han's mouth quirked in a half smile, "Exactly."

She felt a momentary twinge of disappointment when she failed to see Luke
anywhere close by. She quickly scanned the casino, sensing his proximity but she
was unable to 'see' him. They moved away from the Solos.

"Looking for Skywalker?" Karrde inquired dryly as he guided her toward a
gambling table.

Mara shot him a look and said: "Why, that almost sounded jealous."

"Should I be?" he asked, his lips pressing tightly together.

"He's my friend," she reminded him, soothingly laying a hand on his arm.

The tension eased from his mouth and he smiled more easily. "Sorry."

Both warmed and disturbed by this little display she went on: "I'm here with you
tonight, Talon. Remember?"

Her companion nodded quickly as he bent down--- and gave her a quick kiss.
Mara's eyes widened in surprise. He chuckled lightly at her. "I think that's the
first time I've ever managed to catch you off guard."

A familiar, almost memorized, gentle voice interrupted them, "I'd be careful
Karrde. Her bite's worse than her bark."

Mara turned around at that, startled that she hadn't felt his approach, "Luke."
She felt a slight flush spread across her face, but it immediately drained away
when she set eyes on the tall, blonde woman who was clinging to the Jedi's arm.

"This is Tarrintha Goule, princess of Cariba." Luke said, casually disentangling
his arm from the other's grip. "Tarrintha, this is Talon Karrde and Mara Jade,
some of my very good friends."

The woman smiled slyly and said, "I'm sorry if we're interrupting."

Mara, though, didn't hear her. Instead, her senses were monopolized by the
Jedi's sight. Instead of his usual Jedi garb, Luke was wearing fashionable, very
elegant clothes. He looked, she dimly thought, as if he were a handsome prince
instead of a staid Jedi. His dark blue trousers were matching his short jacket
that was enhancing his well-built stature, but what was truly completing the
effect was the satin blue, straight-collared shirt that he was wearing under his
jacket. Mara was momentarily mesmerized by how blue his eyes appeared,
perfectly matching the satin of his shirt; she was so engrossed in that detail
that she barely noticed that he was not wearing his lightsaber at his hip,
banishing his Jedi image for the evening.

Then Talon casually put his arm around her waist and the moment was gone. The
red head fought the impulse to push Karrde away, then she saw how Tarrintha
pushed up against Luke once again and remembered in the nick of time that she
had come out with Karrde, not Luke.

"It's an honor to meet you, princess," Karrde greeted formally.

"I'm pleased that our system has finally come to an arrangement with the New
Republic."

Mara instantly saw red when she noticed how the other eyed her friend as if he
were the next item on a list of purchases.

"It's always good to be neighborly."

The ex-assassin decided that she did not like this woman. In front of her, Luke
was obviously embarrassed, and less than comfortable to add anything either
positive or negative, to the conversation.

"Shall we?" Talon asked her, gesturing toward the dance floor.

Mara, who was once again caught in Skywalker's blue gaze, almost reluctantly
refocused on her plainer companion and forced herself to smile up at him.

The smuggler pulled her toward him, obviously enjoying how she felt in his arms.
She, though, was not sure that she enjoyed it 'that' much.

Behind them, Luke and Tarrintha followed them toward the dance floor.

******

Long minutes later, Mara abandoned herself to the music once again, moving with
sinuous grace in time to the melodic tempo. Talon was an admirable dancer, she
reminded herself in a conscious attempt to focus on him instead of her other
friend. She reflexively smiled when he took her by the hips, swaying with her,
accompanying her moves.

No matter how hard she tried though, her gaze kept drifting toward the couple
that was at the far side of the room.

Luke was holding the blond woman, dancing with her with remarkable skill. Her
eyes narrowed when she saw the possessive way that Tarrintha held onto his
shoulders. She raised her barriers before her feelings could reach---

Luke's gaze rose to met hers; shocked by the intensity of his gaze, she stumbled
for a moment. He smiled, as if in understanding, and she felt a little flutter
in her gut as she returned the smile. She turned away, feeling unaccountably
flustered. She studiously avoided glancing again in the Jedi's direction; it
proved to be quite a challenge for her.

It even worsened when Talon seemed to notice the small exchange and bent his
head toward Mara's ear. "Luke seems to be enjoying himself," he said neutrally.

Talon's words made her heart twist.

As he gazed at his far away friend, Luke felt a stab of red hot jealously slice
through his heart. With their heads pressed closely together, Mara and Talon
were the picture of intimacy.

He tried once again to pull away from the clinging woman, counting the minutes until he could leave this reception. Not only was his social duty weighing on him, but his insides kept churning upside down as he watched Mara and Talon dance in his peripheral vision.

They looked good together, he admitted even though this thought caused a sharp
lance of pain to go right through him. He pondered his reaction. Both Talon
and Mara were good friends of his, he reminded himself. Hence, he should be
glad that they appeared to have grown close.

He should, he conceded, but he didn't.

He watched them closely, supremely aware of his emotional pain when he saw Talon
draw the red haired beauty against him.

"I said, don't you just love dancing together," Luke's companion repeated, an
edge of irritation filling her voice.

Luke felt guilty as he returned his attention to his dancing partner. Seeing
that she had successfully reclaimed his attention, Tarrintha leaned seductively
forward, displaying her cleavage for optimum advantage.

The Jedi just barely prevented himself from rolling his eyes. He edged away in
time with the music, effectively putting a greater distance between them. She
was beautiful, accomplished, intelligent, and she seemed genuinely interested in
him, although how much of that could be attributed to his status as the Jedi
Master, Luke wasn't sure.

What he knew though was that he was completely unmoved by her; she had not
attracted his attention at all, not even with her 'intelligent' topics. He would
have made an excuse to leave, but as his gaze drifted once again toward Jade and
Karrde, he felt reluctant to do so.

"This isn't my idea of fun," he finally replied coolly.

"Then what is your idea of fun?" she asked coyly.

'Talking with Mara, bantering, and flying,' he thought to himself, then
refocused on his partner. "Let me get you a drink," he told her instead an left
her standing on the dance floor. He quickly made his way off the raised dance
floor, past a row of Sabaac tables and toward the server droid that was standing
behind the bar.

As he walked closer, Luke noticed that Han was reclining lazily against the bar.
He raised his drink to the younger man in welcome and said, "I see you're
enjoying yourself just about as much as I am."

"Is it that obvious?" Luke said with a grimace.

"Well," his friend slurred knowingly, "let's just say that your absence of smile
does give you away, yeah."

Luke sighed at his friend's accurate comment. He guiltily checked on Tarrintha
again; he noticed that she was deep in conversation with her aide, a tall man
with strawberry blond hair and a slight limp. And he was looking at her with the
eyes of a lover.

Luke felt a moment of sympathy for the man, wondering if Tarrintha even realized
that her aide had feelings for her, then turned away and placed an order with
the Server droid. He then sat on the stool that was just beside Han's. "She just
isn't my type, I guess."

"Like every other dignitary that you've ever been introduced to," his friend
commented, then winked at him when he saw him redden as if caught cheating at
Sabaac. "Don't worry, Kid. I won't be the one to scold you about that new
failure. I might have married the last princess of Alderaan, but I sure wouldn't
repeat the experience with the princess of Cariba."

"Smuggler and princesses," Luke ribbed him as he nodded his thanks to the droid.
"Figures."

"As much as farmboy and princess do, huh?"

The young Jedi grimaced again at that. "Yeah. Next time that Leia wants me to
come over for a social call, I think that I'll convince my students to misbehave
and strand me on Yavin. It just isn't my kind of thing."

"If you ever do that," Han smirked at him, "I'll make an emergency trip to Yavin
to help you 'calm' them down."

Relieved that his friend understood him so well, Luke relaxed some more and
really ribbed him on the arm. "You'll never change, you old pirate."

"Me?" Han groused as he used to, "never on your life, but then," he smirked
lopsidedly as he gazed at the young Jedi master, "you haven't changed 'that'
much either, Kid."

"Yeah. Thanks to Mara..." he replied reflexively, then paused as he mentioned
his best friend's role in his retaining his lighter demeanor despite his Jedi
duty.

He turned his head around and searched the dancing floor for the beautiful young
woman.

"She doesn't seem to be enjoying her date anymore than you are, Kid," the older
man said from behind her.

Luke whirled around, shocked by what his friend had just said. "What??," he
shook his head next, "but Karrde is a good match for her. It really shouldn't be
so surprising to see her with him. I guess it's probably just because I've
never seen them like this before. She has great respect for him, and was willing
to sacrifice her life for his even before we were friends."

Han shrugged, "Somehow, I don't think that her sense of honor is enough to
maintain a romantic relationship with him. There just seems to be something
missing between them."

'Like deep affection and an incredible desire just to be with the other,' Luke
thought to himself as he slowly turned back toward his friend----

"Master Skywalker?" Tarrintha's sultry voice drifted closer once again. "Is
everything all right?"

Barely covering his grimace that his reprieve was over so fast, Luke took a deep
breath, then faced the foreign princess once again. She was beautiful, he tried
to encourage himself, and she was not too obtrusive, but what annoyed him was
how she seemed to stick to him like sealing paste for his x-wing. "Yes, of
course," he reassured her coolly. "The Server droid had a slight delay," he
lied, dimly rebuking himself.

A Jedi was not supposed to lie, but then, the farmboy in him shrugged, a Jedi
was not supposed to flirt with dignitaries because his sister had gotten
involved in a new attempt of matchmaking.

Tarrintha gracefully accepted the glass that he offered her, then sidled closer
to him until Luke felt as if he were trapped between her and the bar. "Do you
want to dance again?" he offered her quickly, aware that his brother-in-law was
watching him with great amusement.

Before the young woman could shake her head, he extended his elbow toward her.

Oddly disappointed by this turn of events, the princess slipped her arm through
his and walked back toward the dance floor with him. Behind them, Han could
barely contain his laughter as he watched his friend give the princess quite a
run for her money. She would never understand the young Jedi, he thought to
himself.

TBC in part 2

Written 2003 by Rhea Jediknight (jediknight@mail2master.com) and SJ
(skyjade@globetrotter.net)

TBC soon

Love
Rhea and SJ

Divided Heart
Part 2: Ghost of the Past
By SJ and Rhea (skyjade@globetrotter.net and jediknight@mail2master.com)
05-04-03/

____________________
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to us; everything belongs to George Lucas. We're only writing stories for fun. See my homepage for more details.
http://www.oocities.org/Area51/Quasar/3702
Special thanks to Rhea for bringing up the plot bunny of that story and accepting to work on it with me :) Working with you is a pleasure, my friend!
______________

"Talon, would you do me a favor and ask Tarrintha to dance with you?"

Talon looked inquiringly at Mara. She continued, "Maybe you can find out what would get her to agree to let Jade Enterprises handle in the trade negotiations."

"What about Skywalker?"

"I'll take care of him," she answered almost nonchalantly, " Maybe he can help me out too."

After studying her for a moment, he nodded, "Of course." He smiled, "After all, A trade contract would be so much better than flowers, don't you think?"

Mara chuckled and watched him leave. She turned around--- and slammed right into the Jedi. He put his hands out to steady her. Her normally calm demeanor vanished the moment that Skywalker touched her. His face was intense and she could feel him trying to read her through the force.

"Where's your date?" he asked, deceivingly calm.

"Talon's not . . .He went to dance with Tarrintha, 'your' date" she added with emphasis, "to try to charm a contract out of her for me." Aware that she was still more-or-less pressed against the Jedi's strong body, she slightly stepped away.

"I had no idea that you and Karrde had grown so close," he commented. "It's... surprising."

Mara shrugged, losing herself in the azure depths of Luke's eyes, "He asked me out," she said simply, wishing that this Jedi had done so instead of her former employer.

"I see," the other nodded briefly but his eyes informed her that he was not done considering her words. "May I have this dance then?"

"Sure, but in exchange, you'll tell me what will happen after tonight between you and the princess," she warned him as she rested her hand on his strong shoulder, slightly tightening her grip as if she were suddenly feeling possessive of him.

As she analyzed her reaction, she dimly noticed that Luke's hand was also holding her close to himself, as if he were feeling the same way toward her. "Nothing will happen," he reassured her, gazing straight in her eyes. "She's just another duty that Leia forced me to attend."

"I figured this much," she nodded.

"What about you and Karrde?" he inquired quickly before she had time to speak again.

"What about us?" she perched a groomed eyebrow at him.

"I know that you have a lot of affection for him," he reminded her as he quickly spun them around, in time with the music. "You wouldn't have gone out with him unless you felt something for him."

Mara had deftly followed his maneuver and now took the lead to guide him into a series of intricate steps; Luke followed her as if he had always danced with her like this . "And what if I do?" she answered him, suddenly on the defensive. Sure, she had opened the subject of their current dates with him, but she had not planned to open her heart to him.

"Well," Luke retorted, dipping her down and backward, surprising her with his agile move before he righted her and spun her around on her heel. "Isn't he kind of old for you? And what about the fact that he used to be your boss?"

Although Mara was genuinely stunned by Luke's unexpected dancing talents, she stopped her spin and locked her gaze with his intent one. "Too old? He's hardly that much older. Are you the type who believes that lovers should be about the same age?" she asked him, taking his hand back in hers and leading him through another series of quick steps.

"No, but---"

"I expected you to be much more open-minded than that about love, Jedi," she scoffed. "After all," she added before he had had time to speak again, "you certainly had no qualms at all to fall in love with a sixty-something year old woman who borrowed the body of a younger woman upon her death."

The moment that her words left her lips, she realized that she had overstepped the boundaries of their friendship. Luke's blue eyes turned to icy chips even as his whole body turned rigid under her hands. "Never, ever, speak of Callista that way," he warned her.

"Why?" she asked her reflexively, caught herself, then decided that , it was too late to back down anyway; the subject was now open. "Can't you face the truth of what she was? She was a body-snatcher, Luke, and---"

"And you are a heartless ex-assassin, Jade," Luke spat, unwittingly attracting the attention of the nearby dancers on the two of them.

Mara instantly saw red and was about to insult him worse than ever when an unknown voice inquired from behind her: "Jade? Mara... Jade?"

Upon hearing the way that the man pronounced her first name, she whirled around in shock and disbelief. No, she shook her head. It couldn't be. It was impossible, he was---

Her world froze as her eyes found the supposedly-dead man.

Terren Macay, former partner in training and confidant, almost lover, and someone whom she thought had died twelve years ago stood right before her, looking almost as healthy as even Skywalker did.

"Terren?" she breathed, her voice strangely strangled in her throat.

Around them, more couples had stopped dancing to watch the ongoing encounter.

The moment that Luke felt the intensity of Mara's shock, he forgot their actual argument and moved to stand between her and 'Terren', instinctively trying to shield her. Mara's hand appeared around his wrist and kept him at her side.

"Terren?" Mara repeated. "But . . . you're dead."

The dark haired, handsome man performed a courtly bow, "I had to disappear in the shadows. I'm so sorry for lying to you. I never meant to hurt you."

"Yet you did," Luke observed as he felt his friend's old pain resurface in her faster than he himself could summon up her legendary temper.

"And you are?" the newcomer sneered in annoyance.

"Hey, what's wrong here?" Talon's distinguished voice inquired, then pushed through the assembled guests. "Mara!," he rushed to her side. "What's wrong? You're as white as snow."

"This," she tried to say, then licked her dry lower lip and tried again, "This is an old friend of mine, Terren Maccay. Terren, this is Luke Skywalker" she indicated the Jedi, "and Talon Karrde." she nodded at the smuggler.

"Luke Skywalker?" Terren almost reared back, his eyes narrowing. "The Jedi Master, Luke Skywalker?"

"Yes," Luke replied cautiously. "Why?"

The other smiled in a way that truly did not please Luke, "I'm just surprised to find Mara Jade with the great Jedi Master, that's all."

"Actually, she's with me," Talon said assertively, wrapping a supporting arm around her slim hips.

Luke noticed how Mara threw a silencing glare at her cohort before she refocused her attention on their surprise guest. "Where have you been all of these years?" she asked, some of her anger filling her voice once again.

Uh-oh, Luke thought to himself. Whoever that Terren guy was, he was not on her favorite list at the moment.

"Come on, Mara," the other tried to soothe her, "I thought that you had died with the Emperor on the second Death Star. I thought that this man had killed you," he jabbed a finger in the direction of the Jedi.

Tarrintha Goule came forward at this and frowned at the scene before her. "Is anything the matter, gentle sir?"

Luke used the distraction to check on his friend. *Will you be all right?*

"I'm out of here," she replied, half-glaring at him in warning before she refocused on the other man. "It's not the right day to return amongst the living, Macay," she growled at him, then she was stalking away from them; Talon was right on her heels, trying to calm her down.

The new comer gazed after her, his eyes filled with interest although his face was a perfect mask of regret, then he turned back toward Luke; his features changed completely. "You might have confounded her with your lies, Jedi," he warned him, pointing an accusing finger at him, "but you will soon find out that she is not as overcome as you think she is."

"Mara is a free woman now," Luke replied as serenely as he could manage although his most ardent desire was to lash out at the man for what he had just done to his friend. "If one of you needs freedom from your common past, I believe that it is you."

"We shall see," the younger man almost spat at him, then turned his back to him and disappeared in the gathered crowd.

"What was that all about?" Tarrintha inquired, sidling closer to Luke once again just as Leia arrived on the 'crime' scene.

"Is anything wrong?" his sister inquired, breaking the quiet that had settled over the gathered group.

"Not anymore," Luke reassured her, then added to himself 'for the moment'.

All of a sudden, he had a very bad feeling about the Cariba Conference. A new player had just scrambled the whole deck of the sabbacc game.

Around them, dignitaries began to exchange gossip about what they had just seen and what it meant. Tarrintha, for her part, tried to convince him to leave with her like Mara and Talon had just done.

*****

"Who's this Terren Macay?" Talon asked Mara.

They had found a small secluded spot in the outer courtyard of the casino, far away from any other living being. They sat beside each other on a small stone bench, surrounded by thick blue Zanitha bushes.

"Someone from my past," she answered absently, obviously lost in thought.

"Was he special?"

"Yes," she slowly nodded, then seemed to come out of her thoughts and locked her brilliant gaze on his eyes. "Can we not talk about him right now."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to pry." He leaned back on the stone bench.

They lapsed into silence. The night breeze was cool and comfortable, rustling the branches of the trees. It was a quiet evening.
Mara's emotions, were at odds to their surroundings. She was in turmoil. She was confused about Terren's return from the dead. She longed to talk to Skywalker; she felt a pang of regret when she remembered how Princess Tarrintha clung to the Jedi's arm. Feeling unusually glum, Mara gazed up at Talon Karrde. Life would be so much simpler if she could only fall in love with the man seated beside her. He was honorable, kind, generous, and she knew he would do everything within his power to make her happy.

Talon returned her gaze and his expression softened. Her eyes explored the lines of his handsome face. He leaned toward Mara and asked, "Would it be too soon, if I kissed you?"

After a brief pause, Mara shook her head.

Talon closed the distance between them, lightly brushing her lips with his own. Mara put her arms around him, deepening the kiss. It was pleasant and comfortable. Her heart continued to beat its normal steady rhythm. Talon pulled her closer, growing more passionate. She tried to equal his fervor, but it was useless.
He didn't make her blood stir.

This was a mistake.

Talon was the first to pull back. He gazed down at Mara and a small, sad smile appeared on his face. "Should I stop?"

Mara placed a hand alongside his face and stroked his cheek, "I'm sorry, Talon. I don't deserve you."

Talon laughed; the sound made her heart ache. "You're in love with someone else," he said matter of factly.

Mara was about to protest when Luke Skywalker's face came unbidden in her mind, just being near him affected her more deeply than kissing Talon Karrde could. She lowered her face, her hair becoming a shield.

Talon brushed her hair aside and nudged her chin upward to meet her gaze. "It's Terren, isn't it?" he asked.

Mara's first impulse was to shake her head and deny his assumption, but she stopped herself in time, aware that if she denied his statement, she'd have to admit who had captured her heart. "I really don't want to talk about it. I'm sorry that I went out with you. I didn't mean to be cruel. I just thought . . ."

"It's alright, Mara, really," the ever courteous trader smiled gently. "I'm willing to work this out with you. I'm a patient man. I'll wait for you."

Mara shook her head, but Talon interrupted, "Think about it. Give it some time."

Their eyes met and they gazed silently at each other for a long moment. Talon stood up and said, "Come on. I'll take you home."

******

The next day, Mara sat in her small office in the lower rent area of Coruscant. It was close enough to the center of commerce to serve her purposes, but not too costly that it cut too deeply into her profits. She even paid below market for this particular location, although how much of that was due to the neighboring office, she couldn't say.
Just one door over, was the Central application office for the Retention of Restricted and Hazardous Life. Thanks to the dangerous species that constantly came in the area, she never ventured out into the corridor without her blaster in her hand.
She had just finished filing the preliminary contract that Karrde had negotiated for her while he had been dancing with Princess Goule. Oddly, she didn't feel the satisfaction that she had expected. She thought about him, and decided that if he continued to pursue their relationship after last night's kiss, she would have to find a way to let him know it was just not going to work. Better to end it now, before their friendship suffered.

As if freed by such thought, the image of Luke Skywalker came unbidden to her mind. Just how close had he gotten to Tarrintha Goule? And when would she learn that Skywalker's romantic affairs were none of her business? She remembered the way her skin had tingled when he had casually touched her while they had danced. She recalled how breathtakingly handsome he had been in his rarely worn dress attire. And she winced when she replayed the heated words they had exchanged on the dance floor.

Then Terren Macay had shown up. It was as if he had risen from the dead. His reappearance in her life had been a shock, but she had begun to adjust the idea that he was still alive. He had once meant so much to her. There was a time when she would have said that she was in love with him. Granted, she had been young, but even the Emperor had approved of the match. Terren had been charming and handsome and had saved her life at least once when a job had gone sour.

As if her thoughts of him had become real, her door, slid aside and in stepped Terren, looking as dashing as ever. "Good morning, Mara." he said with his sensually deep, baritone voice.

For a long moment, she could only stare at him, unable to process her tumbling thoughts. What was he doing here? How had he find her? Where had he been all those years?

By the time that she found her voice, he was standing across from her, looking expectantly in her direction. "Terren," she greeted as coolly as she could.

"I've always loved the way you said my name. Your voice is so sexy."

Mara meant to growl something less charming to him when she spotted the presence of a small, black oily mass slipping into the room through the air duct overhead. She recognized it as a Deverian Bloodbeast, one of her less-than-savory neighbors from the Application office. The slick animal slid down the ceiling, coming right toward Terren. She picked the blaster up off the desk and aimed. Terren's eyes grew wide and he stumbled back. She fired and the creature caught flame, burning quickly, and leaving a small black stain on the carpet where it fell.

A man barged into her room and saw the blackened spot marking the man's Bloodbeast's demise. "Consider that a denial of your application for restricted lifeforms." Mara stated.

The man saw the blaster in her hand and nodded. "Sorry about your wall. " He backed away without another word.

"Nice place you have here," Terren said, slowly sitting down in the chair.

"It suits my purpose. Why did you come here, Terren?" she asked him gruffly. "Since you didn't bother to contact me before, I doubt that you were in an emergency to contact me again."

"Do I need a reason to see you , Mara? I thought that we had progressed beyond that point long ago."

"You said it," she spat, upset. "It was 'long ago'. I haven't heard from you in years, I moved on with my life, and now you expect me to just----"

"Yeah, you moved on, with Skywalker," he spat out.

Mara, who had slowly begun to rise out of her chair, stood up and locked her green glare on the man from her past. "Luke Skywalker is none of your business."

"I beg to differ."

"What??"

"If he's a part of your life, then he is important to me as well." Terren answered, recovering his cool facade, then said suggestively. "Meet with me, please," he asked her more warmly. "Give me a chance to explain. For old times sakes?"

Mara considered this and then nodded, "I'll meet you in an hour for lunch."

"At the Grand Hotel?"

"Fine," she dismissed him, turning her attention back toward her datadisk-filled desk. "Now I have some work to finish."

Terren nodded, longingly looked at her for a long moment, then left the room.

*****

As Mara was walking toward the Grand Hotel, she remembered that she had forgotten to ask Karrde if the king had agreed to all of her terms. Not wanting to let someone else declare the contract invalid, Mara pulled out her comlink and contacted Karrde.
"Karrde here."

"Where are you?" she inquired rhetorically.

"Checking up on me already, Mara? Why, I'm flattered."

"Karrde," she warned him.

"I'm at the office. Where are you?"

"I'm on my way to the Grand Hotel."

"The Grand Hotel?"

"I'll tell you about it later. I just wanted to ask you..." her voice trailed off as she noticed that a group of thugs were converging on her path.

"Mara? Is everything okay?"

"Looks like trouble's heading my way. I gotta go. It seems that the Grand Hotel needs to improve their security."

She cut the connection, and pulled out her blaster. They stalked toward her. There was no doubt of their malice or that she was their intended victim. They quickly formed a loose circle around her. She pointed her blaster at the nearest thug, a Riordian with only one eye. "Stay back," she warned.

They laughed and lunged toward her. Mara shot off three blasts, falling the first attackers before the remaining two reached her.

"You better be worth this, you little Sith whore," the nearest man swore, ducked under her roundhouse kick, then grabbed her from behind.

She reflexively struggled against his grip, using her infallible techniques to escape him--- but no matter what maneuver she tried, she could not break free.

"20,000 credits is not enough," a metallic voice echoed hollowly as the third one walked closer to them and peered closely at her. He was almost entirely made up of cybernetic parts. "I think she killed them," he said indicating the other three, then motioned to his acolyte to follow his lead while he stopped Mara's attempt to kick him. He didn't let go of her leg, then scooped her off her feet and led the three of them in a side alley. She reached out with the force to unhook her lightsaber hilt from her belt. The cybernetic man grabbed the hilt, preventing Mara from using the weapon. She felt the beginning of fear, but she pushed it ruthlessly out of her mind.

However, despite her best training, in the Force or otherwise, Mara found herself unable to escape them.

"Mara?!" Karrde called in the comlink once again, then, when he realized that she was in trouble, stashed the silent device in his breast pocket and ran toward the shelf where he had left his blaster holster.

He quickly retrieved his weapon, then turned on his heel and ran toward the door---- he almost ran right into a black clad Jedi Skywalker. "What's wrong?" his friend inquired, obviously sensing how distraught he was.

"It's Mara, she's in trouble," he explained quickly, catching his balance before he walked around the younger man and headed toward the nearest turbolift.

Not surprisingly, Skywalker was right on his heels, unclipping his lightsaber from his belt. "I got her," he warned him, then pulled on his hand and led him toward the nearest balcony. "This way, it'll be quicker!"

"But the lifts are that way!" Karrde objected as he ran after the Jedi.

"We're not taking the lifts," the Jedi replied grimly as he hastened his step, then, taking his hand in a firm grip, exchanged a quick glance with him. "When I say, jump as high as you can," he barely panted.

They had not slowed down; instead, they were running a little faster now that the younger man was pulling him after himself---- then the trader finally understood what the daredevil Jedi was planning. The open balcony was rushing closer and closer now.

"Skywalker, I'm not---"

"Three, two, one, now!" He jumped.

In less time than he could think, Talon Karrde found himself air born and vaulting way over the high-railed balcony and on his way to a crash landing with the solid ground that was five meters under them. He reflexively shut his eyes while he tried to not scream in anguish--- then he felt himself slow down, just enough to understand that he would not crash on the ground.

Beside him, Luke's feet had barely hit the ground that the younger man was already sprinting at full speed toward the infamous area of the Grand Hotel. Although shaken to the core by his new, flying experience, Karrde locked his knees together and forced himself to follow the Jedi.

His lover was in danger.

Together, they ran to her rescue.

The thugs had dragged Mara all the way to a side alley where no one would bother them. Their strength was superhuman

"What do you want?" she spat out for the tenth time since they had caught her.

"Just a little fun." The man began to caress her face with his cold durasteel fingers. She yanked her head away, unable to move far enough because of the restraining grip of the other man.

"They did not tell me how pretty you were."

"Who?" Mara asked.

The man's foul breath made her gag and she prepared to head-but him---- when a blaster shot rang out in the alley.

The man in front of her slumped to the ground with a surprised grunt. Shocked yet relieved, Mara turned toward her would-be rescuer, expecting to see Luke, or even Karrde if he had found a way to come to her help this quickly...

Instead, Terren Macay walked forward, blaster held high, as if he were invincible... once again.

"You!" The man holding Mara cried out and he shifted her forward, using her body as a shield against this new assailant. Mara tried to drive her heel hard into the man's foot; he didn't budge anymore than the last time that she had tried that move on him.

Terren silently leveled his blaster right at her---- and shot the man, narrowly missing her head. As the thug fell, he maintained his implacable grip on her arms and pulled her backwards with him.

Her rescuer rushed forward, pulling her free. Mara, who had yet to understand both why she had been caught that easily by those men, as well as how Terren had just almost killed her, she stood up on shaky legs and looked down at the man. She picked up her lightsaber.

"Mara," Terren pulled her to him, and before she could register his intent, kissed her hard on the lips.

Grateful for his rescue, and still shaken by this encounter, she held onto him, relieved to be alive. His kiss also brought back a flood of memories. She began to return the kiss. It was pleasant and familiar, reminding her of the few things of her past that she missed.

"Mara?" Luke Skywalker's voice intruded upon them.

Startled, she pulled away. Terren smiled down at her.

Luke was standing in the alley, shutting down his lightsaber. Behind him, Talon Karrde lowered his blaster; both men were visibly distraught by the current circumstances. Suddenly realizing what she had just done, Mara backed away from Terren. She could not do that to Talon.

"It seems we came a little too late," Talon said dryly.

"Thanks for coming," she nodded at them.

Luke stepped forward his eyes inspecting Mara's face. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," she reassured him.

His expression became shuttered when Terren put his arm around Mara, "She's just fine, Jedi."

Displeased by the arrogance that she could now detect in her rescuer, Mara shrugged out of his embrace and said: "Let's get out of here before more of those thugs come after us."

After exchanging a suspicious glare with each other, Luke and Terren followed, and Karrde hurried after them to catch up with his wayward companion.

TBC in part 3

Divided Heart
Part 3: Relationships
By SJ and Rhea (skyjade@globetrotter.net and jediknight@mail2master.com)
05-04-03/

____________________

Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to us; everything belongs to George Lucas. We're only writing stories for fun. See my homepage for more details.
http://www.oocities.org/Area51/Quasar/3702

Special thanks to Rhea for bringing up the plot bunny of that story and accepting to work on it with me :) Working with you is a pleasure, my
friend!

_____________________

They had almost reached the main street when Mara stumbled on suddenly weak legs. Luke, who had sensed her faltering, hastened his steps and caught her just before she truly crumpled to her knees. Talon, who had been walking at her side, whirled around in shock, then searched Luke's eyes, at first in distrust, then gratitude.

"Are you all right?" Talon inquired, moving closer to help her up.

Aware that it was not his place to help his friend in such an intimate fashion, Luke reluctantly backed away and allowed him to assist her.

"I'm fine," Mara nodded, then shrugged herself free of Karrde's arm once she was on her feet.

"I think that we should let a medic make that determination to ascertain this," the trader commented as he eyed her warily.

Luke quickly checked on her through the Force.

The young woman glared at both of them in turn. "I don't need to go to a medcenter."

"Yeah, she's fine," Terren added casually as he walked past Luke to stand close to Mara once again. "She's taken far worse before."

Although Luke knew that his friend had indeed sustained much more impairing injuries in her past job, he still frowned in disagreement as he felt how the other dismissed these experiences as inconsequential for Mara.

If not for his Jedi training, the farmboy in him would have jumped in to defend his friend from such mean comments. Nothing excused her pain.

Even as she felt a sudden surge of anger from behind her, Mara shot the over-confident Terren an annoyed gaze... then nodded in agreement when she understood that he had only meant to state a fact. It was true, she conceded. She 'had' once been much more wounded than she had been during this latest altercation, and she had not faltered back then, she slightly rebuked herself, her old pride taking it hard today.

She used to be able to knock this kind of scum flat on their ass without breaking a sweat, she reminded herself. She even used to pull herself out of jams without requiring the assistance of a single man.

Yet today, no less than three men had come to her rescue.

She was softening, she thought glumly to herself. Softening, and getting old...

All of a sudden, she was no longer in the mood to meet with Terrrn at the Grand Hotel, and she was not sure that she could stomach Karrde's overly solicitous behavior either.

Aware that her best friend was also with her at the moment, she briefly turned around and caught Luke's eyes; she gave him a pleading look that went unnoticed by the two other men, who were currently engaged in a discussion about her current weakness.

Luke acknowledged her with a slight inclination of his head, "I think that what Mara needs is some space," he commented, cutting in the heating-up conversation. "Talon," he said, turning his exquisite blue gaze toward her suitor, "would you contact the authorities and tell them what happened here? Terren," he continued, addressing her friend. "Can you inform Hotel security about their need to post more guards in the lobby?"

"And what will you do, Jedi?" Terren asked, his eyes darkened by his open hatred for the Jedi.

Mara frowned upon seeing that. She used to bear a similarly-clouded glare, she reminded herself, but it had been wrong.

"I'm going to see her home," Luke stated so calmly that even Mara would not consider arguing with him at the moment.

All of a sudden, The Force was a palpable presence around him, making him more impressive, his full-power shone through him. Everyone understood that they were currently dealing with the Jedi Master.

Terren opened his mouth to protest, but seemed to reconsider as he met Luke's gaze once again. In the end, he remained silent.

"Thank you, Terren and Talon, for being there for me," she said in the silence, then offered her arm to Luke. Silently, the two younger friends resumed their walk toward the main street.

Beside Mara, Talon reluctantly nodded and left them; Terren, for his part, remained behind and silently watched the two Jedi as they left the alleyway.

****

Skywalker and Jade walked away from the alley in silence. The Jedi continued to try to read Mara, but her shields were tighter than ever. She appeared to be lost in thought and only after they had walked to the nearest landing platform and secured a private air taxi, did she finally meet his eyes.

"Thanks for the rescue," she said, her voice subdued.

Her demeanor worried Luke. "Are you alright?" he asked as they took their seats in the open topped car.

"What?" she asked in a distracted voice, "Oh, those thugs." She snorted, "I would have taken care of them eventually."

Luke keyed in the command for Mara's residence and leaned back in his seat, in order to view her more closely. "You just seem off somehow."

She shrugged.

"Who is this Terren Macay?"

Mara's shields briefly dipped and Luke could sense the conflicting emotions churning within her. "He's an old friend," she replied.

"He did seem very friendly," Luke commented wryly.

Mara's shot him a look and said heatedly, "What's it to you?"

"I don't think it's that unusual for a friend to ask another friend about seing them engaged in a heated kiss."

Mara lowered her gaze and muttered, "I don't know if I'd call it heated."

"Whatever," Luke grunted and then turned his head away.

A short moment later, the air taxi settled onto the platform that was nearest to Mara's residence. He refused to meet her gaze.

They disembarked and were well inside the corridors when she realized that something. "I'm surprised that you are still on Coruscant," she admitted, locking her emerald gaze with his blue one.

"I was scheduled to leave today," he nodded at her, "but after I checked on the school, I didn't see any emergency to leave yet."

"Ah," she nodded, "and was there any reason for you to remain on Coruscant for longer than necessary?" she inquired even as images of a rich, blond-haired princess filled her mind.

As she had meant to do, her question unbalanced her cool-headed friend and he blushed as boyishly as ever. "Hmmm, well," he fumbled, then darted a gaze toward her upcoming corridor. "I know that I can't order you to visit a medcenter for scratches," he said instead, completely avoiding her topic, "but can you at least promise me that you will stay home for the rest of the day?"

"And what would be in it for me, Jedi?" she asked him. As she gazed in his earnest blue eyes, her defensive temper dissolved as quickly as it had risen when he had changed their topic.

As if aware that she was suddenly, flirting with him, Luke studiously avoided her gaze. "You've been through a shock," he reminded her sternly. "Remember the last time that it happened? It took you hours to recover from it completely."

When she had learnt about the truth between Vader and Skywalker, she thought, then winced as she remembered how unbalanced she had been for almost ten hours before she had been able to recover her composure. "That isn't the same," she grumbled, annoyed that he would bring up such an unpleasant memory when she was trying to make him see that there was more to her than a cold-hearted friend...

And for what reason?, she asked herself as they rounded the last corner of her corridor. She was not in love with Luke, was she? He tested her temper too many times for that, and yet... she definitely was jealous of the dignitary...

Her thoughts fell away as she saw who was waiting for them just outside of her quarters.

"What are you doing here?" Luke inquired the moment that he identified Terren Macay.

"The Hotel says thanks, but no thanks," he slurred at him in disgust, "so I thought that I would check on Mara."

"She's fine," Luke answered even as he stepped slightly in front of his friend, as if to defend her--- then jumped when Mara pinched him in the ribs with the Force. He had overstepped his boundary with that defensive attitude.
He reluctantly stood there as she walked past him and closer to the man from her past.

"I will need some rest, but otherwise, I'm okay, thanks to you," she said warmly.

"I wish that I had known earlier that you were in trouble," the other replied in kind, then stepped closer and delicately ran a finger down Mara's smooth cheek. "I was worried about you."

Unable to watch the other's open attempts to court his Mara, Luke rolled his eyes in a 'spare me' fashion. "You sure didn't seem worried about her well-being 'after' it was over," he commented acidly.

Earning himself a most unpleasant glare from his friend. "Weren't you saying that you had to check on your Jedi students?" she commented, implicitly warning him to leave before it got any worse between the two of them.

*Are you sure?* he asked her, suddenly having a bad feeling about his leaving her alone with that man.

Even though he only meant to be open with her about his worries, he only managed to irate her. *Since when am I unable to take care of myself, farmboy?* she asked him angrily, then turned her back to him and punched in her key code.

"Right," he reluctantly nodded, "I'll check on you later then," he still told her, then he turned heels and headed toward the turbolift once again.

As he waited for it to return to Mara's level, he dimly wondered from where his thought about 'his' Mara had come from.

He couldn't be jealous of either Karrde or that new guy, could he? Nah, he shook his head to himself, there was nothing more than friendship between him and Mara, and yet...

He 'had' considered telling her that she would get 'him' for the day if she would behave and stay in her quarters to rest.

His mind filled with suddenly puzzling questions about his relationship with Mara Jade, he stepped inside the crowded lift and selected his own floor.

Back at Mara's place, the young woman tried hard to cover her confusion at her friend's attitude from the man who had come in with her. What did Luke feel for her?, she wondered as she took a moment to freshen herself. First, he wasn't even picking up on her attempts to see if there was more between them then mere friendship, and the next, he was acting so jealous that she had to warn him off of Terren's back before they came to insults once again.

Jedi, she shook her head in annoyance, then stepped out of her 'fresher.

When she returned to the living room, her companion was attentively studying what little mementos she had gathered in her quarters on Coruscant. "I see that you are even closer to Skywalker than I had heard," he commented disapprovingly, then turned around to face her. "He's got you completely subjugated, hasn't he?"

Subjugated?, Mara frowned even as she planted her fists on her hips. "I will tell you only one more time, Terren," she warned him dangerously. "Stay out of my relationship with Luke Skywalker. He isn't the Emperor, nor my Jedi Master or lover. We're just friends."

The other man might have replied to her, but he took her warning at face value and remained silent. "Nice place you got here," he said next.

"Cut the crap, Terren," she growled, walking inside the living room before she sat on her couch as she felt her legs weaken yet again. Luke was right, her gentle self pointed out to her; it would take her a few hours to recover from that new bout of shock. "Where were you all those years?" she inquired out loud. "Why do you come back now instead of when you first heard about me and the Jedi, which you have obviously heard about," she said meaningfully.

For a long moment, her former friend paced the other side of her living room as if he were a caged animal, then finally sighed as if in reluctance. "I couldn't come back. I was in an Imperial enclave."

"And why did everyone pretend that you were dead?" she asked him mercilessly. If he had been in an imperial enclave, then why had he been hidden---

"Because I was," he sighed glumly. "The Emperor needed me to die, I was too well known... yet he knew that I could be an asset for him if I were to disappear. What I didn't know was that he would send me on a world where no one left... until recently."

"What did you do there?" she asked him next, trying to put his puzzle back into place.

The handsome, brown-haired, brown-eyes man came closer and sat at the opposite end of the couch. "I was keeping the governing bodies faithful to the Emperor. Since I was not alive in any records, they could not track me down; I was his ace up his sleeve, keeping his training facilities at peak efficiency."

'His ace up his sleeve,' Mara thought, remembering how she too had used that expression to describe her role for the Emperor.

So long ago, she reflected, filled with a bitter-sweet feeling. It was almost as if it had been another life... another Mara... Back then, her days had been filled with activities that were so very different. She had been content at that time, yet had nurtured a dream. Now, though, her dream was fulfilled, so she had nothing left to hope for... and her dream had not turned out to be what she had thought it would be.

Trading was much more bureaucratic than she had ever imagined. Nowadays, she was buried under tons of datacards and reports that she 'had' to read in order to secure the best deals or acquire prized contracts. Such a far cry from the exciting, vivifying experience of fighting for a cause, for...

For a master.

"I miss it too," Terren commented, as if reading her thoughts. "Sometimes, I consider registering in a military unit, or even intelligence, but with my Imperial background, I know that they would not trust me."

Trust, she paused once again. Did the Republic trust her?.. Well, maybe not, she thought seriously, but at least Luke did.

"I've come here to offer you a deal," he informed her, cutting in her thoughts. He had inconspicuously edged closer to her while she had been thinking.

"What deal?" she inquired reflexively---- then could only stare at him in shock when he lunged forward and plastered his familiar lips on her own before he laid her down on her back against the arm-rest.

"Come with me, give us another chance" he offered her, then resumed their kiss.

As if unleashed by her memories of her past with Terren, her other good memories of her life as Emperor's Hand surged forth and filled her with an aching that only Terren's kiss and comprehension seemed to soothe.

Thus, despite her feelings for Luke Skywalker, and despite what she had begun to explore with Talon Karrde, she abandoned herself to the plans that Terren was now sharing with her.

Plans of adventure and danger, like in the old days.

******

Back at his place, Luke sat on his balcony... and considered what had just happened between him and his best friend.

He was naturally aware that he had upset Mara with his protective attitude. He had wanted to protect her from that worrying newcomer, but she was his friend.

He could not stop himself from protect his friends, and especially not her, he admitted to himself. Ever since they had crossed path, she had held a special place in his heart, had almost instantly rivaled with his sister's place even when the red-head had still been talking about wanting to kill him. He himself had always known that she would never kill him, but even more important, he had somehow always known that they would be best friends... Mara could understand him better than anybody else, and she accepted him as he was, farmboy 'and' Jedi. In return, he was there for her when almost everyone was still distrusting her, and he could appreciate 'all' the aspects of her personality.

Sadly though, he was aware that she thought that he had taken everything from her, forcing her to accept a new, also happy, but different life.

A life that she had not chosen.

And now she was with Terren Macay.

What was he himself doing here?, he finally asked himself glumly. Why wasn't he on his way to his x-wing, and back to his Jedi 'praxeum' where his heart would stop playing tricks on him for a woman that would never have any interest in him?

Because he couldn't leave and abandon her in the arms of another, and especially in those of that unsettling ex-Imperial. Seeing her in the arms of Talon Karrde had been a shock for him, but he had accepted the situation, knowing that his friend Talon was a good man and would be a good match for the younger woman, although he could be her father. However, the situation was totally different with that ex-imperial guy.

Mara had once loved Terren, and yet, he could feel that this man did not have her best interests in mind. Kind of like how he had felt when Lando had been dating 'his' Mara. This time though, the relationship was tainted by a darker edge to the Force.

Unless the edge was only his jealousy that those men could kiss his dear friend when he himself could barely share a room with her without raising her hackles after five minutes.

Who was he kid----

His sister's presence suddenly entered his awareness. Relieved that the torment of his thoughts had come to an end, he rushed as fast as could toward his main door and opened it before she signaled her presence. "Leia!" he smiled, then hugged her tightly to himself. "It's so good to see you," he whispered in her hair.

"It's good to see you too, in a more informal setting," she returned, surprised by his warm welcome yet riding it without an hitch. "I was worried that you were still sore at me for yesterday. I was hoping that I could catch you before you leave again."

"I'm not leaving yet," he answered, pulling away from her. He silently invited her to come inside.

"You aren't?" she raised an eyebrow, perplexed, then smiled even more, "then can you join us for that family dinner we talked about?" she offered him seriously.

"I'll even cook for you if you want," he nodded in agreement. "Where are you off to?"

"Home," she smiled at him. "Wanna join me?"

******

Later that evening, after spending delightful hours of comradeship with the whole Solo household, the three adults were finally left alone.

Ever since 'Uncle Luke's arrival, they had been swapping news and gossips with adults and children alike as they had first prepared their evening meal, then had shared it. The mood had been very convivial so far.

However, with dinner over, bedtime had come around for the children. They were thoroughly exhausted by their uncle's impromptu visit, yet they were also so excited by it that they tried to sneak out again.

"No, young lady," Han rebuked their daughter, "It's late and you have school tomorrow." He stood up and herded both twins back to their bed. "Now off to bed with you two, and sleep, that's an order."

"Can you read us a story?" Jacen inquired while he tiredly rubbed his left eye with his fist.

Beside him, Jaina gave a mighty yawn.

"Alright, but just one," Han said as he escorted them from the room.

"Don't worry," Leia mischievously whispered to her brother, "they'll be asleep in five minutes, if Han can keep them in bed long enough."

"They sure look about ready to fall asleep on their feet," he half-whispered in answer, then smiled at his sister, "Does it make you wonder how we might have been as youngsters if we had grown up together?"

Leia's good mood sobered slightly. "All the time," she nodded slowly as she studied her brother for the fiftieth time since he had come home with her. They were so different, she thought glumly, so impregnated by their two different backgrounds. Even when she was wearing casual wear with her hair down, she was a dignitary all the way to the tip of her nails, whereas Luke's rough, physical life on Tatooine and then as a Jedi, clung to him like a shadow. Even when Luke wore his best fineries, or when Leia attempted to be casual, they still seemed worlds apart.

Fortunately though, their hearts had bridged that distance. Nowadays, they were able to share a genuine bond because of the time that they had spent in the Rebellion. Without their common experience, she reflected not for the first time since she had discovered her brother's identity, they might have never bridged the gap of their upbringings.

"Leia?" her brother inquired, breaking the companionable silence that had settled between them, "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Of course," she encouraged. She had so few occasions to spend family time with her brother that she was overjoyed that he had decided to discuss personal topics instead of Republic issues. Sometimes, she thought to herself, she had the feeling that she hardly knew him.

"When you finally accepted that you were in love with Han," he began, somewhat hesitant, "how... did you know that your love was real?"

While Leia had grown used to expect surprising questions from her slightly-estranged brother, she admitted to herself that his question truly surprised her this time, especially considering how he had dedicated his life to the Jedi. She wasn't quite sure why she was startled by it though; she had certainly worked hard to find someone for him to love. Had she finally succeeded? Had Tarrintha Goule touched his heart?

"Well," she began, shifting on her seat until she could meet his blue gaze, "don't tell Han," she warned him playfully, "but upon later reflection, once I knew how deeply I loved him, I realized that I had always felt something for him from the start, even in the Death Star."

"You did?" Luke's voice was somewhat surprised.

She nodded.

"But you were furious at him that day," the edges of his mouth turned downward in a frown.

"I was mad at the galaxy, period," she reminded him more seriously, "There was the Rebellion, Alderaan..." She took a moment to let the fading memories of her doomed home planet evaporate from her conscious mind. "However," she continued, "Han caught me unprepared with his bravado and roguish style. He never backed down. He never wavered in his belief in me, in us. My emotions were so strong around him. I always wanted to lash out at him, to hurt him." Leia laughed, "You know, there were times that I really thought I wanted to kill Han."

Luke's eyes flew to her face and he listened to her next words intently.

"I never really hated him though," she continued thoughtfully. "Instead, I realized that I was simply denying how I really felt. They sometimes say that hate and love closely relate. I think that was true. When, I saw him risk his own safety to help you, then when he ran off after those troopers..."

"I do remember not liking the way that you were looking at him," Luke nodded, speculatively. His mind was racing. Leia had wanted to kill Han? The image of Mara Jade holding a blaster at him on Myrkr flashed though his head.

"And when he came back to save you, I was done for," she finished wistfully, "He had his quirks and flaws..."

"But he had a generous heart," they both concluded.

"Awww, and I thought that my good looks were what had captured your heart," their friend drawled from the entrance of the dining room. "If this gets out, your Highness, you will ruin my reputation," he teased her.

"Then we'll discuss this in a committee, nerf-herder," she smiled back at him as he sat down beside her and pecked her cheek.

On her left, Luke's eyebrows drew together as he smirked in amusement. "Okay," he began more seriously. "I know about the Highness thing, and I sure remember the first time that we heard the nerf-herder comment, but what's with the committee thing?"

Han and Leia exchanged an amused gaze, then just smiled at Luke. "A very private matter, Kid," Han winked at him. "So now, how long will you be staying on Coruscant?"

"Can I count you in for the more informal dinner that I have arranged with the Caribans? I'll make sure that Tarrintha is there," she said before her brother could answer Han's question.

Unlike the smile that she was expecting though, Luke didn't show any sign of eagerness toward the princess. She frowned in confusion at the slightly unhappy gaze that her brother gave her. She was unsure if it were due to her question, or to their joke about discussing things in a committee.

"I'll be there," he finally nodded. "Will Mara attend as well?"

"I think so. I've invited her," Leia answered, a slightly puzzled expression scrossing her face.

"I overheard Talon Karrde saying that he was planning on coming," Han Solo replied.

Luke frowned further.

"What's wrong?" she asked him this time, "Isn't that good news? I guess that means that your friend will be here too. She could provide moral support for you and Tarrintha."

"Yeah. Great," Luke said unenthusiastically.

Han and Leia exchanged looks as the Jedi turned away and peered out at the Coruscant skyline from the large window in the living room. The sun had set long ago and the numerous lights now glittered like a thousand stars scattered across the buildings.

"I think I'll head home now. See you tomorrow." Luke said.

"Sure, kid," Han said.

Leia watched him leave in silence. "What's wrong with him?" she asked once she was alone with Han.

"I don't know." Han shrugged, "but I do know that he's not exactly thrilled at the prospect of having Tarrintha Goule as his date."

"But that makes no sense. Why else would he ask me about love if..." her voice trailed off. "If he isn't in love with Tarrintha, then who...?"

Han shrugged again and smiled lopsidedly at his wife. "I don't know if even Luke knows the answer to that one, sweetheart."

******

TBC in part 4: Revelations

Divided Heart
Part 4: Revelations
By SJ and Rhea (skyjade@globetrotter.net and jediknight@mail2master.com)
05-04-03/

____________________
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to us; everything belongs to George Lucas. We're only writing stories for fun. See my homepage for more details.

http://www.oocities.org/Area51/Quasar/3702

Special thanks to Rhea for bringing up the plot bunny of that story and accepting to work on it with me :) Working with you is a pleasure, my
friend!
_____________________

The next day, Talon Karrde sat across from Luke Skywalker at an out of the way cantina. The music was low and the booths deep and private. Talon sipped from a frothy mug of ale and Luke watched him with an intensity that made him feel uncomfortable. Sensing his unease, the Jedi smiled slightly, immediately putting Talon at ease.

"How's it going between you and Mara?" Luke asked in the silence.

Karrde raised an eyebrow, still interested about Mara and this Jedi's odd relationship. "That's why I asked you to meet me here."

"Is she alright?" he asked instantly.

"Relax," Karrde comforted him, waving him down with his right hand. "She's fine. The only thing wrong with her is me."

Luke frowned at that but remained silent.

Karrde sighed forlornly. "I wanted to talk to you because I don't think there is anyone else alive that understands Mara more than you do. You're her friend. You've always believed in her, your faith in her has never wavered."

"Well," Skywalker rubbed his neck in obvious unease, "I don't know if she would agree with me considering...," he paused, letting the trader hang onto his next words... that never came. "But she's never let me down; she's my best friend."

Karrde nodded, "Then I was right to come to you."

"Probably. What's the problem?"

"Terren Macay," Karrde grimaced, then noticed how the Jedi mirrored his sour mood at the mention of the new suitor in Mara's life. "I think that she's in love with him."

Even though Luke had been privy to Mara's feelings while she had been with the stranger, Talon's words stabbed right through his heart. He concentrated on maintaining his breathing, but the smuggler noticed the effect his words had on him. "I know," he finally nodded, resigned. "I have a bad feeling about him too."

"I've had Ghent research his past," Karrde continued seriously. "and the little that I've found does nothing to reassure me."

"I know that he worked with her back in her days as the Emperor's Hand," he commented slowly. His friend's statement had really hit him hard, but why did this knowledge hurt so much?, he wondered. Was it because he knew that Mara would be lying to herself if she went on with that guy? Or because he was jealous?..

In front of him, Talon nodded thoughtfully. "That would explain a lot. I'll direct the kid toward the old Imperial archives then, see what he can come up with."

Luke nodded. He rose blindly to his feet. "I have to go."

He left before Talon Karrde could prevent the Jedi's departure. The smuggler watched Skywalker head toward the exit, disappearing into the crowd. He returned his attention to his ale. Although he wasn't in the habit of drinking, his his love life was making him change his mind about not consuming alcohol until a deal was settled.

Walking swiftly down the streets of Capitol City, Luke paid no attention to either his surroundings or his direction.

Mara was in love with someone else.

While he had hoped that he would someday witness his best friend fall in love with a man, he had never thought that it would happen this way... nor that he would find the news unpleasant.

When Lando had courted his beautiful friend, Luke had felt protective of her not because of he harbored deeper feelings for her but because he had known Lando's reputation. He had wanted to save her from that kind of pointless romance.

Then, there had been Karrde, two days ago. He had been surprised, even somewhat glad that his friend could find a good man like Karrde, yet he had known that it wouldn't work. There was just something missing in Mara's eyes, in her sense, that made Luke believe that the relationship was doomed.

However, Terren Macay was a totally different deal and he was forced to consider what he was feeling for his ex-personal nemesis, and wonder why she had come to mean so much to him. He didn't want to see Mara fall for that guy, he admitted to himself as he tried to block the image of Mara kissing the stranger again.

No, he would prevent Mara from ending up with Terren. Luke didn't want to abandon her to that man's cold, insensitive care, nor did he trust him. There was just something about that man, he reflected. He considered warning Mara through the Force, but decided against it when he became aware that sending a mental message would irritate her worse than she already was.

Still, he sighed grimly as he made up his mind about his next destination, his rescue of the previous day had been a tad too well-timed for a non-Jedi. The thugs had known too much about Mara to be mere ruffians of lower Coruscant.

Then, there was his reappearance at Mara's door, and his uncaring comments about her distraught status...

Something was going on, and he decided that he would figure it out. He headed toward the palace, and Mara's quarters.

*****

"Since when do you refuse to test your flying skills against an equal?" Terren asked her when she turned down his suggestion for the day.

"Since I'm in business and in the middle of sensitive negotiations," she retorted, then picked up a new pad with more information about production statistics of Schillium. It was a very unstable element, yet when properly channeled, generated more energy than a Supernova. It was the main resource of the Cariban territory; and would be a source of great revenue for Mara as well.

"And how much fun is trading?" Terren asked.

Mara meant to retort something archly when he continued, "Besides, you're making up that trading excuse. If it were that important to you, you would have worked on it yesterday too."

"Touche," Mara admitted, then sighed wearily. True, she did not need to study Schillium facts anymore than she already had, and she had until the evening to wait before she could take another stab at those contracts with a high dignitary of Cariba. Still, she did not 'exactly' want to spend the whole day with Terren either. While he did relieve her of the tension of the past days, she had also quickly realized that he really reminded her too much of a past that she hoped to forget. He made her feel like the person she had been before she had met Luke: unhappy, selfish, and negative.

While she had often rebuked her best friend about his farmboy naivety and too big a heart, she was now acutely aware that she really loved those characteristics of his. They brightened her day whenever they were together, and they made him charmingly unique. And very much unlike the man who was currently slouching in the couch next to her.

He was an arrogant, self-important man, so he wanted a challenge, she slyly thought as she made up her mind about the day's activities. She'd prove to him that he wasn't the best at everything.

"All right," she finally agreed with him, "but we're not going to fly. I'm curious to see if you're still as good as ever with a blaster."
As she expected, the self-confident man wilted inwardly at the mention of his less than perfect aiming skills. He was good, but she was his better and he had always known it.

"Deal?" she offered him maliciously.

The other took a moment to consider, offered his hand for a shake.
She gripped it--- and he pulled her swiftly against him in a possessive kiss.

Despite some of his flaws, she admitted that his assertiveness was appealing, making her remember what had appealed to her when she first knew him.

They remained locked in a kiss for a long while. Later, they went on her balcony, hailed a cab, and left for the shooting range of the Manarai mountain, the toughest, most challenging range of the planet.

Unbeknown to Mara, Luke Skywalker came by her apartments a few minutes later. She was gone, already too busy talking weapons with her companion to feel his presence.

*****

Back at the palace, Luke slowly walked away from Mara's apartment. He had missed her. He had known that the two of them had been together just moments before, and he had sensed Mara's confusion about Terren. She was both bored, and yet simultaneously attracted to him.

Was it that difficult to understand? he wanted to ask her, then caught himself and blushed at his own display of jealousy. What was wrong with him? Why was he reacting the way he was. Sure, he wanted to protect his friend, even though she was more than capable of handling herself, but there was more to-----

He had reached the turbolift bank and was waiting to board when the door opened and the last person he wanted to see at the moment stood in the open lift.

"Hello, Luke," the princess of Cariba said, as if she had been expecting to find him there.

He also noticed that she was on a first name basis now. He decided to deliberately put more distance between them. Unable to do anything else, Luke stepped inside the turbolift.

"Princess," he bowed his head in respect, then, when she failed to step out of the lift, stepped in and reluctantly joined her inside. "I thought that you would be with your father's delegation, visiting the city."

"I did that on my own yesterday," she shook her well-cared blond head slowly, then smiled gently at him. "I was hoping to catch up with you today."

Aware that they were not alone in the lift, and that the princess was looking at him as if he were flirting with her, Luke affected an attitude that he had come to think of as his Jedi Master mask. "For which reason?"

The doors opened again, and more dignitaries stepped inside, forcing the woman to press suggestively against him. She didn't complain about the set-up and clung to him as if to catch up on the past day that he hadn't seen her.

"Well, when I heard that you were still on planet, I thought that we could see each other sooner," she said, not paying attention at all to the fact that Coruscant's worst kind of gossip spreaders were surrounding them at the moment.

"Sooner?" he frowned, then tried to take a step away from her. It didn't work, he was already pressed against an Ithorian ambassador. "I, huh, had we agreed on another meeting?" he queried, some of his farmboy confusion slipping past his more rigid composure.

"That's what the President told me," the younger woman nodded flirtatiously.

Emperor's Bones! Luke thought instantly even as he prayed for the ride to be over, Leia had completely misinterpreted his question the previous night and had contacted the princess to arrange---

The lift finally reached Leia's floor. Freedom was just in sight. "You'll excuse me, your Highness, this is my floor."

To his annoyance, the other followed him. "It's also mine." Catching up with him, she took hold of his elbow and escorted him down the corridor and all the way to his sister's quarters.

Aware that he would soon be trapped with the other woman and his confused sister, Luke tried to think of an excuse to leave the princess until the upcoming official dinner.

Thanks to his confusion about Mara, and his awareness of her emotional state with her suitor, his clever mind remained a blank. He was trapped. It was too late.

*****

When Leia excused herself from her surprise guest, her brother jumped to his feet and asked her if she needed any help... with anything. She noticed that he was practically begging her to take him away from Tarrintha for a while. Amused, yet puzzled by his behavior, she nodded and headed toward the kitchen. After convincing their guest to stay put and wait for them, her brother was right on her heels.

Once in the kitchen, he let out a sigh of relief. "Why did you invite her over so soon?" he asked her as they walked through the throng of droids that were busy with the dinner that would be served in a few hours. "I thought that you wanted to talk with me."

"What do you mean, why did I invite her? I thought that you had changed your mind and wanted to spend more time with her, even introduce her properly to me," she retorted, then opened the cooling unit and pulled a jar of berry juice from it. She silently offered him some.

"So she's maneuvered her way 'in' without either of us being wiser?" Luke frowned, then turned around as if to gaze through the wall of the kitchen. "I knew that some women were interested in me, but this is ridiculous."

"But what's wrong with her, Luke?" she inquired, curious about her brother's feelings for the cultured, interesting young woman. "She kind of reminds me of myself when I was her age," she commented next, subtly reminded him that he had been in love with her before they had found out about their relationship.

"Without your spunk and courage," her Jedi brother answered honestly, then nodded in thanks as he accepted a proffered glass. "She's also a little too polished for my taste, wouldn't be good in a fight, if you know what I mean," he blushed slightly, then buried his face in his glass.

'Like Mara Jade,' the ex-princess of Alderaan reflected with a thin smile, then tried to see read her brother's feelings for the red-headed woman. "You never know, Luke," she began lightly. "I've heard that she takes Teras-Kasi lessons, and she knows how to wield weapons, pirate problems oblige."

"She does?" her brother gaped in slight surprise, then sobered again. "Still, she isn't my style."

"Too even tempered, perhaps?" she teased him, fishing for more confirmation that her brother was indeed falling in love with the only other woman that she knew that answered all his other, already-mentioned criteria.

To her confusion, he shook his head at that. "She just sees me as the Jedi Master, nothing else. She is not interested in the real me," he continued, then filled his glass again before he selected a glass, for their guest.

"Huh? Luke," Leia interrupted him. "That might not be good enough for---"

"A princess, exactly. Like a farmboy isn't good enough for them, but just come with me and you'll see for yourself, understand what I mean," he told her seriously, then was gone.

Aware that her brother was being unusually open with her, Leia hurried to fetch her glass from the counter, then followed him out of the kitchen and into the living room. She entered just in time to notice the slight grimace that the noble woman made when Luke presented her with the children's berry juice. But right on the heel of that reaction, she smiled and sipped at her glass, as if delighted.

And with that, she understood what her brother had been trying for years to tell her about his not fitting in with nobility. He was not the problem, they were.

Which now left the question of who would be able to love her brother as he was, and to enjoy mere berry juice with him if that was the drink he offered them.

Although a name floated up in her mind, again, she felt reluctant to consider it. However, she made a note to herself to watch the other woman very closely tonight, when she would be sitting in front of Luke and his royal date.

******

Later that night, the high Court of Cariba had finished its tour of the city and had accepted the President`s invitation to an more informal dinner at her own place. Despite the informal nature of the meeting however, everyone was wearing fineries, except perhaps Luke who had not returned to his place since he had reached his sister`s. Since he was wearing his lightsaber though, the dignitaries understood that he was simply affecting his Jedi Master role and did not take offense in the fact that he was wearing simple, dark-coloured, but not black, clothes.

However the other guests, and even their hosts, did not escape a more scrutinizing look. The princess gave a dark look to Leia as Mara Jade and Talon Karrde entered the Solo's living room.

Although mildly annoyed by the other's judgmental attitude, Luke did not react to her question in any way. Instead, his eyes were glued on the sumptuous sight of his best friend and the daring yet somehow conservative gown that she had selected for the evening. While the cleavage of the body-hugging, satin green gown was appropriate, revealing the form of her breasts while keeping most of it out of sight, the long slit of her skirt left nothing to the imagination exposing her left leg. Similarly, the back of her gown was barely covering her athletic back, exposing it between a V of fabric that met just at the small of her back. As if the dress did not reveal enough details about the most attractive woman, a fine gold trim enhanced her cleavage while a thin belt hugged her voluptuous hips in a decorative V. It was as if she were wearing a necklace around her body that completed the one around her swam-like neck. As if the she was not ravishing enough, she had pulled up her hair in a wayward yet organized fashion, leaving tendrils of hair to caress her barely covered shoulders while uncovering the daring back of her chosen gown.

"Mara," he bowed his head to her, then refocused on her date. "Talon."

Despite their conversation of the morning, it seemed that the red-head still wanted to give Talon a chance. Although Luke was more and more aware that he did not want even that relationship to work, he hoped that his two friends would have a great evening together.

Which was more than what he could say about himself and his tenacious date who was once again stuck to his side as if she would never let go of him...

About an hour later, Karrde and Jade sat beside each other and just across from Skywalker and Goule. Ever since she had arrived, Mara had found herself hyperaware of the Jedi. Even though she had chosen to come to this dinner with Karrde, and that her companion was pleasant and gallant, She could not help but hear every word Luke said, and notice every motion that he made, especially those toward his own date, the princess of Cariba.

Every time she glanced up, she faced him. Sometimes he watched her and smiled slightly in acknowledgement. Sometimes he was smiling warmly at the Princess, worrying her despite herself about his feelings for the distinguished young woman. Still, she reflected, there was something strained about him; he seemed on edge.

Inwardly shaking her head in an attempt to rid herself of pointless observations, she forced herself to refocus on her own date. Talon was the ultimate gentleman. Throughout the meal, he made sure her glass was always filled with the finest wine, secured the choicest cut of meat and selected the juiciest berries for dessert.

Mara smiled, grateful for the distraction he provided and warmed by his solicitude. She really did like Talon Karrde, but her feelings did not go any further, she admitted to herself as she felt a wave of regret when she sensed deeper emotions from him. She could never give him the love he deserved.

This would have to be it, no more dates, no more dinners until they cleared the air between them. She didn't want to break his heart, but how could she do that and maintain their friendship?

What made her think that she should date a friend in the first place, she wondered. She glanced up at Skywalker in time to witness Tarrintha whispering something into the Jedi's ear. He blushed, but did not pull away. Mara quickly suppressed her irritation at the woman was so obviously lusting after the Jedi, but she was genuinely surprised that he didn't seem to be pushing her away.

Pulled by an irrational need to reassure herself, Mara began to do a mental comparison between the Cariban royalty and herself. By the time she was done, she realized that Luke and Tarrintha were perfect for each other.

Now why didn't that conclusion please her?

C3P0 entered the room. He was carrying a serving tray filled with digestive delicacies, "Master Luke. It's so good to see you." He exclaimed.

"It's good to see you too, old friend. Here, let me help you," Luke stood up and took the tray from the droid's slightly unstable hold

"It really isn't necessary, I'm use to such servitude."

"Nonsense." The Jedi protested insistently as he pried the plate from the droid's less prehensile hands. "Besides, you aren't designed for such duties."

"He is now, Luke," Leia commented meaningfully as she gestured to him to sit down. *Sit down before our guests take offense of your discourteous behavior, Luke. Threepio handles plates all the time now.*

He pointedly ignored her message through the Force.

Mara hid a smile in her napkin when Tarrintha glared at the golden protocol droid.

The King, for his part, finally recovered from his shock and stated, "No future son-in-law of mine should even touch a serving plate."

Luke stood still, his face instantly turning crimson while Leia froze in mid-motion, her spoon stopping on its way to her mouth. Han Solo coughed, and Fey'la slapped his back in attempt to prevent the man from choking.

Future son-in-law? Mara felt her mind stop. All thoughts became impossible as she watched the dignitaries start to whisper among each other at this declaration.

"Dad!" Tarrintha wailed, but the look on her face was filled with cunning. She was perfectly aware of the effect her father's pronouncement had on the others and she said, "I'm sorry, Luke dear. Father never knows when to be quiet."

Luke nodded slowly and sank back into his chair. The dinner continued, but there was a distracted air that was not there a moment before. Leia watched Luke closely, but her duties as hostess prevented her from asking the questions that she were burning a hole in her tongue.

Talon chuckled and leaned down to whisper in Mara's ear, "I had no idea that Luke was planning on marrying the princess. Somehow, I just can't picture the two together."

"Oh I don't know, Talon." Mara bit out, "She's a lot like his sister."
Talon Karrde considered this. He gazed at Mara with his wise, pale blue eyes.

He nodded slowly and said, "Perhaps."

C3P0 disappeared in the kitchen. Mara watched the couple across from her closely. Each little gesture between them seemed suddenly more intimate. Every look made her feel more and more jealous. Jealous? Mara Jade?

Impossible, she told herself. And yet, the feelings would not go away. She tried to ignore the handsome blond couple. They did look good together, Mara thought darkly. She missed the way Luke shifted uncomfortably in his chair and the pleading look he gave his sister.

When the dinner was finally over, Mara almost tripped on the hem of her long dress in an effort to leave the table. Talon squeezed her shoulder and began a heated negotiation on her behalf with the Calaban chief trade officer. She was grateful to her friend, unable to even think about business as she watched Luke escape onto the balcony.

He leaned against the railing, releasing a long sigh as he peered out over the Coruscant skyline. He always loved the view from Leia's balcony, but it failed to comfort him. Tarrintha followed him outside. He felt his spine stiffen, and he kept his attention trained on the distant air traffic hoping that by sheer will alone, the princess would leave. No luck.

"It's beautiful out here." She said smoothly as she joined him by the railing.

Luke glanced back and saw that Mara was leaning against Talon. She seemed self-absorbed, unaware of her surroundings, completely oblivious to his presence. He wanted more than anything to talk to her, but something about Talon's presence made him feel inhibited.

Tarrintha ran a long nail seductively across his chin, turning his head toward her. Luke's eyes widened as he faced her. There was something coldly beautiful about her, something that kept him riveted in place as he wondered what she had in mind. When Tarrintha leaned toward him, Luke did not pull away. He was too shocked by the other's daring. It had been so long since anyone had wanted to kiss him like this woman... It was just too bad that he was unmoved by her, and an errant thought of a particular red head sprang into his mind.

Tarrintha pulled back from him, laughed, and said, "You and I are going to be so good together."

Luke began to shake his head in denial. This was so wrong. Before he could say a word, she pulled him toward her, claiming his mouth again.

Mara watched in cold horror as Luke and Tarrintha kissed. She told herself that she could handle the Jedi's new relationship, but the sheer exuberance with which Tarrintha laughed and then kissed him made it pretty obvious that the Jedi had proposed to her. Mara turned away feeling as if the ground had crumbled away from beneath her feet. Luke hardly knew her. How could he want to marry her? Mara felt both searing pain and dull anger, fill her being. She focused on the anger, bringing it to life forcing the pain aside in her fury.

Luke, who was still surprised by Tarrintha's unusually forward action, finally managed to push her away from him. He didn't love her. She was an attractive woman, but she just felt wrong.

He was barely acknowledging this fact when a sudden pain startled him. Luke wondered for half a second if Tarrintha could sense his thoughts through the force, then he realized that it wasn't the blonde's feeling but the anguish of another lady.

Luke looked around just in time to see Mara turn away. A flash of guilt speared through him as he realized what his friend had just seen. He turned to Tarrintha, gave her some lame excuse before she could stick herself to him once again, then promptly followed Mara into and out of the Solo's residence.
He didn't know what he would say when he reached her, but her pain continued to echo through him, forcing him onward.

Once in the outside corridor, Mara gave her fury free reign, knowing that it gave her the ability to prevent the tears from spilling free.

Tears? For Skywalker?

This was ridiculous, she thought to herself. Mara realized that she had left the dinner party without saying a word to the Solos or even to her date, Talon Karrde. She stepped into a turbolift and groaned inwardly when Skywalker dashed into the lift before the doors closed behind him.

Mara glared silently at the Jedi, hoping that her eyes did not betray her with the telltale moisture. Luke regarded her silently, waiting for her to speak. Finally he said, "I know Leia sometimes goes a little overboard with the spices, but I though your experienced palate could handle the heat." His voice had a mildly humorous tone, but his eyes never strayed from her face.

"I'm surprised you're not still pressed up against the princess." Mara spat out vehemently.

Luke's face grew warm and he replied, "I'm not interested in her. Besides, what would it matter to you anyway? Aren't two men enough for you?"

Mara glared at him, but had the grace to be embarrassed as well. She spat angrily, "Karrde and Terren are none of your concern."

"Why not? I thought we were friends," Luke said.

"If we're such good friends, why didn't you tell me you were going to marry your princess?"

It was Luke's turn to be confused about her comments. "What? Marry her? You're wrong Mara. That was a mistake." Luke's eyes were wide.

"Oh come on, Luke. I've heard about how close you've grown throughout the past days. The King practically announced your engagement at the dinner, and she's more than admitted that you've grown close. That scene on the balcony just confirmed it."

"That might be what she wants, but I'm not marrying Tarrintha. I have no interest in her."

"No interest?" Mara sneered "Pulling a girl close is certainly a strange way to show a girl that you're not interested."

The moment the turbolift doors opened, Mara stepped out. After they exited the lift, Luke blocked her path.

"Get out of my way, Skywalker." She pushed him back.

Luke stumbled away and asked, "No, listen to me. I'm not going to marry the princess, Mara. I don't love her."

Mara sputtered and then said, "I don't believe you."

"Oh, so now you don't believe me yet you can trust that Terren Macay?"

Mara's eyes narrowed in warning. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't trust that guy," he admitted to her.

Mara raising her hackles the moment Luke assumed his protective role again. Thrusting her finger right under his nose, she growled, "Stay out of my life, Jedi. I'm old enough to make my own decisions."

"But not wise enough to see lies even in yourself," Luke replied honestly.

A cold chill coursed through her, freezing her in place.

For a very long moment, they both glared at each other, debating if she wanted to hit him or kiss him Luke said, "And what about Karrde? Why did you walk out of that party, leaving him behind if you care so much for him?"

Mara dropped her gaze and then shrugged, "I know that Talon and I won't work. I just haven't figured out a way to let him know without ruining our friendship. He means a lot to me, Luke I don't want to lose him."

"I'll always be there for you, Mara." Talon's voice said from behind them. Mara whirled around, flushing. Talon stepped free of the turbolift to join them on the outer platform.

"I'm sorry, Talon."

"Don't be. You've already tried telling me. I've just been too stubborn to listen. I was hoping . . but that doesn't matter now."

His shrewd gaze went from Mara's face to Luke's and he asked pointedly, "I'll not stand in your way anymore. I know you've in love, just not with me. I've always had this strange notion of wanting to have the woman in my life give her heart to me."

Mara started to shake her head.

"It's all right, Mara," Talon asserted. "I know you love Terren."

He was baiting her, Karrde knew full well that Mara did not know her own heart and he was sure that her feeling went pretty deep for a certain Jedi Master. Karrde cared for her deeply and decided it was time that Mara was no longer in the dark about her own feelings.

Mara gazed at Karrde, remaining silent, as if considering whether to open her heart to them or not. Then the moment was gone, "You are both wrong!" she denied adamantly. "I'm not in love. Period. Please make my apologies to Organa-Solo and tell your princess." She made the title into an insult, "that I'll arrange for a representative to see to the details of our arrangement."

Mara turned on her heel and walked quickly away.

Talon watched the various emotions cross the Jedi's face, exchanged a bemused and understanding gaze with him, then before he could prompt the younger man to go after Jade, Luke pulled himself together.

"Mara! Wait," Luke called as he ran after the angry young woman.

Smiling knowingly, the smuggler quietly slipped away, retuning to the party to do damage control while giving some privacy to the two Jedi.

As he re-entered the waiting lift, Karrde was surprised to find that he really wasn't hurt by Mara's rejection. She cared for him still and they had their friendship. Someday, he'd find true love, just not today, and in the meantime, he hoped his two friends would finally talk about their feelings for one another.

Mara was running now, intent on losing Skywalker. She was within sight of her door; she noticed that someone was waiting just outside of it. It was Terren. Luke closed the distance between them. Seeing the Jedi right behind her, Mara reached out with the Force and opened her door. She pushed Terren inside, then slammed the door shut behind them.

On the other side of the door, Luke barely kept himself from ramming nose first into the closed door. "Mara, please," he tried to open communication with her again. "We have to talk about this."

*Why? I don't think it's necessary and I don't want to,* she sent him while she pulled her other companion to herself and kissed him.

As she expected, her Jedi friend balked away and withdrew. The moment that Luke was gone, she pulled away from Terren and turned her back to him.

"Hey, that was a nice opening, but not nearly enough after a few hours of---"

"Cut it out, Terren," she warned him, then freed her hair from her simple bonds. "I don't want to see anyone at the moment."

"Then you shouldn't have shoved me inside," the other began languorously.

She silently warned him away, then, when the other failed to back away, she reached out with the Force and called her nearby lightsaber to her hand. She turned it on with a snap-hiss waving it a mere inch away from the man's face.
"Get out, or you won't like the consequences," she warned, glaring at him from under her eyelashes.

She expected the man to argue, to try and arrange for a next meeting with her, but instead, he just nodded in a way that reminded her of his imperial background. He swiveled on his heel in a precise movement and left her alone.
Once her apartment was empty, she turned the weapon off, dropped the hilt on the nearby couch, then joined it and sunk into the deep cushions.

Luke was right, she admitted to herself. She was lying to herself about Terren. There was no point in pursuing a relationship with him. It was over years ago. She tried to remember what it was that had attracted her about the man and when she tried to recall his features, Skywalker's face hovered into view. He was so infuriating sometimes. He made her feel so angry, he made her feel confused, he made her feel... period. She was more alive with him than with anyone else she knew.

Why was that, she wondered?

******

Back at his apartment, Luke walked to the railing and peered out over the city below. His mind raced with the implications. He recalled Mara's pain when she had witnessed the kiss followed by her seemingly jealous behavior.
Luke wondered, Could she really love him? Luke Skywalker? He always managed to make her angry, they bickered constantly. How had this happened? Could it be? Could she really feel about him like he did about her? And how had he failed to notice?

He heard Talon's voice in his head asserting that Mara was in love and her insistence that she did not harbor deep feelings for anybody.

As he pondered his relationship with his friend, it never occurred once to him to return to the dinner party or to his date, Tarrintha Goule.

******

Hours later, after changing clothes and going for a long, soul searching walk, Mara sat cross legged on a raised dais in a long forgotten, which was hidden deep within the old Imperial Palace. She gazed for a moment at the empty throne, wondering if she would be happier if the Emperor still occupied it. Probably not, but at times like these when she would have liked to turn to a family member, she sometimes ended up here.

As dark as the Emperor was, he was the closest thing she had to a father. She might have normally gone to Skywalker, but since she had no intention of discussing her recent feeling for the Jedi with him, that was out of the question.

This was by no means the main Imperial throne room. However, unbeknown to his enemies, the Emperor had many antechambers, still undiscovered by the New Republic. The dark side presence lingered faintly even in this lesser chamber. Mara was immune from the damaging effects that might have bothered other force sensitive individuals, having lived in its shadow for so many years.

She hadn't been here for at least a year. Mara tried to pin down what had driven her subconscious to seek this dour room's dubious solace. Was it because of Terren Macay's reappearance in her life? She had once sat beside him in this very spot at the Emperor's feet. She remembered the growing closeness between them. He had been a light in her dark world. The light still burned, but somehow did not seem so bright. She snorted at herself. She was becoming poetic, but her thoughts continued to focus on this image.

Who was her bright light? Was it Talon Karrde? No. He was one of the many stars in the sky, but certainly not the sun. Instead, her mind settled on Skywalker. He was the one person in all the galaxy that she really believed in, the only one who made her 'feel'. The combination of supremely capable Jedi Master with his farm boy honesty and humility balanced perfectly, making the ideal man. Ideal? Skywalker? She almost laughed at the thought, but couldn't. She knew it was what she truly believed when she allowed her thoughts free reign in the privacy of this forgotten chamber.

From the moment she met him, she had been unable to kill him. There was just something that seemed somehow wrong about fulfilling the Emperor's command. Never before had she failed to fulfill any assignment for her former master. It would be easy to believe that it had been the passage of time since his death that had dulled her need to complete her assignment, but she knew that was a lie. Mara Jade just could not kill Luke Skywalker. Something deep within her rebelled a the very thought. Instead, she had saved his life on many occasions.

"Mara Jade failed, and the Jedi is too dangerous to keep alive. I will kill Luke Skywalker." A voice echoed throughout the chamber.

Mara froze. Her entire body became as cold as ice. The only thing that moved was the thudding of her heart. She reached out with her mind, but could not find the Emperor's presence. Just the familiar echo of his former power resonated in the room. Mara searched the room looking for the one who had spoken those words.

"He will die when the Seismic Accelerator destroys the heart of this insurrection, as will most of Coruscant." The hauntingly familiar voice continued.

There, down below on the lower level two figures stood cloaked in shadow.

Mara remained still, realizing that her presence had gone unnoticed.

"Of course, my dear Commander," a familiar feminine voice cooed. The shadow slid up to the taller of the two and wrapped her arms around the other. As she moved forward, a low light illuminated her face and Mara suppressed a gasp. It was Tarrintha Goule.

The couple kissed passionately and a small pang of sympathy speared through Mara. Poor Luke. He had awful luck with women. But at the same time Mara could not help but be somewhat relieved at this development. There would be no way Luke would stay with Tarrintha once he learned of her betrayal. Unless he got it in his head to save her, like he tried to save the rest of the universe.

Mara was an unwilling spectator as the two lovers continued to embrace. If she moved, she would draw attention to her location. Mara was intent on fully exploiting the potential of learning more intelligence on this threat to both Skywalker and to Coruscant. She tried to figure out who Tarrintha was kissing. She vaguely remembered an aide that was always near her that seemed to be about the same height. She would have to investigate him further.

The couple pulled away, the man was still in shadow, his back to Mara. "You will have to leave soon before the planetary shields are up."

"What about you?" Tarrintha asked.

"I can take care of myself."

"But aren't you going to be at the epicenter?" she asked, the perfect picture of concern.

"Don't worry, my dear. I'll be far away from the Bothan embassy."

They began to kiss again, and Mara rolled her eyes. Sith, they were evil, she thought as she was forced to watch another display of passion. Yet, at the same time, she felt a great relief flood her as she realized that the woman had not had any real interest in her Jedi friend either.

It wasn't long before they broke apart and left the chamber. Mara waited to gain some distance between her and the couple and then hurried away to warn Skywalker. She hoped she could get to him in time.

Divided Heart
Part 5: The Trap
By SJ and Rhea Jediknight (skyjade@globetrotter.net and
jediknight@mail2master.com)
____________________
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to us; everything
Belongs to George Lucas. We're only writing stories for fun. See my homepage for more details.
http://www.oocities.org/Area51/Quasar/3702
_____________________

"This is Firebird. We are out of Coruscant's gravity field."

The Commander smiled thinly as he heard the report of his Sovereign' pilots. Then turned toward his troops who had subdued the surveillance men of the New Republic, and nodded at the them to initiate the sabotage.

Seconds later, the planetary shield generator activated, bypassing all the security safeguards to prevent what his team had just managed.

The security shield would remain in place until the planet broke apart. His prey was trapped, he smiled to himself as he followed his men out the way they had come in.

His victory, as well as Luke Skywalker's death, were finally at hand.

******

A shrill warning signal pulled Leia out of deep sleep. Warmly ensconced in her husband's strong arms, she moaned in complaint, in unison with her ex-smuggler of a lover, when the signal continued to trill. She reluctantly opened her eyes and called her comlink to her hand.

"Don't they know that calling this early is uncivilized?" Han grumped, then threw his pillow over his head to block out the strident sound.

"I guess that's what we call progress," Leia smiled dimly, then turned on her comlink.

"Leia," Ackbar's gravelly voice greeted her before she had time to indicate her presence on the line. "Sorry to wake you up, but we have an emergency on our hands. The magnetic planetary shield has gone berserk and can't be shut down."

"What??" Han gasped, pulling the pillow off his head before he sat up. "How did this happen?"

"Saboteurs managed to overcome the night team."

"Can't you undo what they have initiated?" the woman asked after she turned on the light of their bedroom. She was completely awake now.

"We've been trying to do that for the past twenty minutes, princess. We've already called Luke for help."

"Where are you?"

"At the generator that is located near the Bothan Embassy."

"I'll be right there," both she and Han answered in unison, then they jumped out of their bed.

As they hastily put on the nearest clothes, they both exchanged a worried glance.

They had a bad feeling about all this.

******

The moment that the enemy had left the secondary throne room, Mara left in a rush.

As she ran as fast as she could throughout the hidden corridors of the former imperial palace, she tried to focus her mind and contact her friend. However, between her ragged breath and her worry about him, she was not able to clear her mind enough to establish contact.

Minutes later, she literally burst out of the secret entrance that was located closest to Luke's place, then rushed over to his door. By the time that she stood in front of it, she knew that he was not inside. Forcing herself to relax, she found her center, reached out, out, searching along the bond that she seemed to share with the young man--- and found him.

She began to sigh in relief when she pinpointed his exact location--- then lost him as if he had suddenly disappeared in the Force. But he hadn't, she realized. He couldn't be dead either, but she suspected he had just entered an ysalamiri bubble, which was located in the area of the Bothan Embassy.

Kreth!, she cursed vehemently, quickly calculated how fast she could reach him, then, when she estimated that she would never reach him in time, punched in her override backdoor code in his door pad. If she couldn't use the Force to reach him, then she'd use his call station; she did not have her comlink at the moment.

The door slid open; she stepped inside---- and stopped short as a flash of electricity barely missed her midsection. Startled that Skywalker would have any anti-burglar system in place, she looked down--- and growled in annoyance as she identified the identity of the Jedi's security system.

"Cut it out, Short Stuff," she warned the artoo unit as she tried to push past him. "I need to contact Skywalker, and fast."

The droid tweeted something that sounded derogatory to her ears.

She glared down at him as she deciphered part of what he had just told her. "Get over it," she sneered at him, "just because I wasn't friendly when we first met, doesn't mean that I can't change. It's been almost eight years now. I'd think that Skywalker would have taught you that by now."

Artoo warbled another remark.

"No, I don't want to harm the farmboy any more. However," she continued more seriously, "he's sure to come to harm if you don't let me in."

The droid considered her comment, then pulled away his welding arc and allowed her entrance in the apartment. "I never thought you could be that resentful,

Short Stuff. I'll have to warn Skywalker to teach you some manners."

The little droid beeped briefly in answer as he followed her toward the nearby communication console.

Slightly annoyed by the droid's remaining wariness, Mara reconsidered pulling her blaster on him to discourage him from treating her like an enemy, but once again changed her mind when she decided that such an action would not do her any good..

She had never thought that she had hurt the droid in the past, but she was beginning to understand that he had not taken lightly the fact that she had threatened to rip him to pieces while on Myrkr.

But that had been a long time ago, she thought seriously.

Almost another life.

"Skywalker took his comlink with him, right?" she asked her unwanted companion.

An affirmative note answered her.

"Good." She tapped in his code . The light continued to blink as it tried to establish contact with Skywalker. "Come on," she muttered in growing worry, "get through to him." More blinking. "I thought that technology was even more infallible than Jedi," she spat in frustration.

The droid behind her made a thoughtful comment about that.

Mara ignored him and tried to enhance her signal so as to pierce through whatever was also blocking Luke's receiving functions.

"Drat!" she finally admitted defeat. She could not warn Luke about the incoming danger. She reconsidered then tried to contact Coruscant's security.

The line was busy, asking her to call again later.

Feeling the very intense urge to just shoot the frustrating appliance to space dust, she forced herself to calm down and simply turn off the communication system. "So much for that," she muttered, then headed out the way she had come when she heard an querying note from behind her.

She turned around. "Where do you think I'm going?" she snorted at the machine. "I'm going to save your master's butt again, of course."

To her surprise, the droid answered her statement by rolling closer to her, then past her as the door slid open. For a brief instant, Mara stared after him in confusion, then, when he turned his domed head toward her, she understood that he wanted her to follow him.

Frowning in confusion, she fell in step behind him, careful to lock her friend's main door behind them.

"What do you have in mind?" she asked him, wondering since when she had become so comfortable with the droid as to engage in sustained discussions with him.

Either she was really softening as she got older, or Skywalker was rubbing off on her.

The droid remained silent, then, a few seconds later, plugged in an information jack of the nearby wall and unlocked a hidden panel. Although Mara knew that much was hidden in the walls of the ex-imperial palace, she couldn't help but gape as this hidden panel slid up to allow her entrance into a darkened room. Reflexively pulling her blaster from her wrist holster, she followed Artoo inside. "You sure about that?" she asked him even as the door closed behind them.

The moment that they were sealed inside, the lights turned on--- and she could only gape as she discovered the powerful YP-9800 high-altitude speeder that was hovering to readiness; an outer door was already sliding open in front of it.

"Don't tell me that this is Skywalker's," she commented as she quickly walked around to study the state-of-the-art, latest model of the sport-model high-altitude speeder.

Artoo chuckled at her even as he used a specially-designed entrance ramp and climbed aboard.

It was Luke's, she realized even as she tried to understand how he could have afford the thing, let alone what had pushed him to waste his non-existent money on such a 'toy'... which she herself had promised herself that she'd get for herself on her next stop on Coruscant.

Well, well, well, she smirked, then took place behind the steering controls, the farmboy was still full of surprises, even for her who thought that she knew everything about him. "All right, Short Stuff, buckle in tight. We've got an earthquake to stop."

Bleeping in surprise at her statement, the droid didn't have time to comment on her moniker for him before they were through the main hatch and out into the sky of Coruscant.

Pushing the engines to their maximum speed, Mara flew right toward the Bothan Embassy.

She was within sight of the tall spires when they began to shake uncontrollably before her horrified eyes.

She was too late.

******

When Luke rejoined Admiral Ackbar and his team, they went directly into the control and maintenance bays of the shield generator.

The moment that he stepped through the hatch, he froze in sudden worry. He couldn't feel the Force anymore. Whoever had sabotaged the shield had not only been thorough on the technical side, but all the other aspects of the job as well.

"What's wrong, Luke?" his old friend inquired, turning toward him when he failed to follow them inside.

"I'm afraid that I won't be able to help you more than your experts can. The place is surrounded by ysalamiri."

"What?" Page, the officer in charge of the investigation frowned as he overheard his comment. "How can it be? Where are the lizards?"

Luke pursed his lips in sad humor. "If I could feel them, I'd gladly tell you. However, that's the thing with ysalamiri. I can't pinpoint them, only the zone of influence."

"Then let's blow this place----"

"No," Leia's stern voice interrupted. Surprised to see her, Luke turned around.

From her sleep-tousled hair, he could tell that she and Han had rushed over as fast as they could. "If we destroy the room, we will ruin our only chance to figure out what has been done to the generator and undo it. You said that it couldn't be turned off?" she inquired next.

"Yes, Mme President. We've also discovered that the vital mechanisms of the generator are shielded. That's why we can't interact with them anymore."

"What about the other generators?" Han inquired while he surveyed the crowded room.

Page shook his head in answer. "They've also been sabotaged like this one."

"And the energy source? Have you tried to cut it off?" Luke suggested, feeling a dim hope fill him at the though that causing a power outage might be the solution.

"Whoever did this, Sir," Page replied, "they knew even more than we did about the inner workings of the shield generators. I think that we are dealing with ex-imperials."

"And they've efficiently cut us off from the rest of the universe," Leia summarized, exchanging a worried gaze with her family. "What could be their motives though?"

Before anyone could answer her, the ground under their feet began to shake hard, throwing them off balance even as the surrounding electronic appliances instantly began to pull themselves from their mountings on the walls, unable to withstand the enormous tensions.

As he reeled into the nearby wall, Luke understood that they had just gotten their answer. Someone was using the Seismic Accelerator.

Wrapping an arm around his head, trying to protect it from impacting with the durasteel wall, he looked around. He saw his sister and brother-in-law--- and leaped forward seeing that a light was about to impale them as it detached from the ceiling overhead. .

He tackled Han and pushed him aside just in time to avoid a crushing impact with an overhead light.

The tremors subsided as if they had never been.

"You okay?" his sister asked as she checked on both of them.

"Not a scratch," Luke replied, then, pulling himself to his feet, hurried into the room. The doors had begun to close itself when the doors had begun to malfunction.

He tried to stop the doors in order to slip past the pile of computer and rubble that were blocking the access to the control room. Nothing budged. "Anybody by the door?" he asked even as he turned on his lightsaber. Without the Force, he couldn't sense anything.

"Not that I can see, but be careful, just in case," someone answered him from inside.

'Right,' he thought grimly as he attacked the upper lid of the door and sliced neatly through it before he focused on the side. The closer he came to eye level though, the more he pulled his blade out of metal until only the tip of it was cutting through the metal. Then, after allowing the metal to cool down a little, he gripped both edges of the heavy door and strained to pull it away from its mooring.

Han, who had recovered from his shock, and then Leia, joined him in his effort. Together, they managed to pull the door free and against the nearby wall. Inside the room, the remaining lights were dim, lighting the walls instead of the floor. "We're coming through," he informed the moaning men and women who were trapped under computer consoles. "Anything broken?"

Behind him, Leia helped the luckier techs out of the rubble while Han joined Luke in his effort to free those who had not escaped injuries.

Even though Luke sometimes wished that he wasn't burdened with the Force, and all the challenges that it brought in his life, he now wished most ardently that he could have access to it. Lives were at stake----

As if to confirm his feeling, new tremors shook the ground under them.

This time, he and his friend were right in the path of the computer stations---- he realized when a huge station pulled free from the wall and seemed to be aimed at him.

He reflexively ducked even as he futilely tried to shield both him and Han with the Force.

******

Mara and Artoo had reached the location of the main generator and had entered the wide corridors when the ground shook again. Cursing, Mara shielded her head with her arms while she kept trying to move forward, protecting her luma from any damage. It was the only light available now, along with Artoo's headlight.

Behind her, Artoo fluted a query.

"No," she shot in irritation, speaking loud in order to be heard over the the metallic screeching of the straining corridors. "I don't know where Skywalker is. My guess is the control room, don't you think?"

Her electronic companion beeped once--- then disappeared down an adjacent corridor and stopped there. Wondering what he had uncovered, she reluctantly returned and held her balance as she waited for him to talk to her again. Around them, the remaining lights crashed down on the floor, plunging the corridor into complete darkness.

"Should I leave you here and continue?" she inquired in slight irritation as she gazed down at his illuminated headlight.

He answered her with a raspberry, then a triumphant squeal.

"What?" she inquired. The tremors stopped once again. "What is it?"

Even as the droid began to answer her in a flurry of sounds and chirps that were too fast for her to decipher, the Force provided her with the translation.

She could sense Luke again; the Force had returned. *Luke!* she reached out instantly. *Get out of there before it's too late. It's a---*

*Trap, we know,* her friend answered, then sent to her an image of what was happening around him. *I can't abandon them, Mara. But save yourself. Get airborne before the next tremor strikes.*

"Like Hell I will," she muttered to herself, then headed toward her friend's location at full speed. Behind her, the droid tooted forlornly.

"Stay put," she yelled at him without turning around, "we'll come back for you." Then she was sprinting down the grate-covered floor, careful to avoid the shattered glass and broken metal panels..

"Mara's coming here," Luke informed his sister as the two of them finished to Force-pull a heavy station from Han's arm.

"Mara? Why is she here now? And How does she know that we're here? We can't get a call out at---"

Feeling his sister's reflexive distrust toward his friend, Luke frowned at her. "She's not involved in this, Leia. She's worried about our safety."

"Whatever, Kid," Han gripped as he held his injured arm with his healthy one.

"As long as she can explain to us how she got rid of the lizards."

"And that we get out of here in one piece," Leia added as she helped her bruised up husband out of the messy room.

They still did not trust her, he understood as he turned toward Page, who had just recovered his full senses. No matter how much his friend had helped them, how devoted to the New Republic she was, Mara still remained a number one suspect when they were dealing with ex-imperials.

As he helped his friend up to his feet, he reflected that it was also probably one of the goals that was being pursued by their enemy.

He, Page, and the survivors of the last tremors, all made it out of the room. Their group hobbled away from it when new tremors hit them, plunging them into complete darkness.

"Leia!" he called even as he unhooked his lightsaber with the Force, "take my lightsaber." He pressed it against her hand, making sure that she understood that he had given it to her. "We can use it as a glowlamp."

"As long as we don't accidentally touch it," Han muttered tiredly, pulling a slight smirk from his friend.

Good old Han, he thought in relief. No matter how bad the situation was, or how bad of shape he was in, he could still crack a joke and lighten their moods.

"Well, don't hold it by the bright and pointy end and you should be okay.," Luke joked back, reaching out with the Force to help his charges along before his senses began to drift out again.

Ahead of the group, Leia cut away the larger pieces of debris blocking their path. As they walked, it crunched under their shoes sharp as glass. She tried to direct them away from the worst, in order to keep the others from cutting themselves against the shards.

When new tremors hit, she shared the suspicion with the others that they were increasing in strength and length; they didn't let them stop them. Now that all the lights had been knocked down, they estimated that they couldn't be hit by anything else... until the shakes were strong enough to challenge even the strength of the overhead ceiling plates.

Seeing this, she urged the others along faster, keeping her fledgling Jedi senses alert for warnings of new dangers.

Leia thus felt when someone approached their group. Lowering her brother's lightsaber into a defensive posture. The green light illuminated the red-head's green eyes the moment that Mara came within its halo of light.

"Is everybody all right?" Mara inquired even as her eyes ran a cursory check on the men and women who were behind her and Han.

Leia noticed that the other frowned when she refocused on her. "You keep going, I'll cover the rear," she said. "The coast is mostly clear, but we must not dawdle in here. The ceiling is beginning to give in."

When Mara stepped closer, Leia reflexively followed her with her brother's blade, but before she could ask her how she had known about their predicament, her brother's voice filled her mind. *We need to get going, Leia. A new round is building up.*

*Are you sure about her, Luke?* she asked him uncertainly.

*I implicitly trust her with my life. If you don't trust her, then trust me.*

Sighing in defeat, Leia silently nodded in acknowledgement at the red-head before she pulled the blade forward again and resumed her walking. At her side, Han moaned slightly as his arm shifted with the movement.

Mara quickly checked on the techs that made it past her luma, then sighed in relief when she spotted the familiar features of the one man for whom she would willingly risk her life to save.

"Are you all right?" she asked him even as she slipped her shoulders under Page's dangling right arm and helped her friend to carry him.

"Are you?" he inquired back. "How did you know that I was here? What happened?*"

"While I was cooling down from our previous spat, I overheard a conversation that someone didn't want anybody to hear. They've planted a Seismic Accelerator under the Bothan Embassy."

"Figured part of that already," he nodded, locking his shadowed eyes on hers-----

A new tremor hit them again, harder than ever. Both she and Luke instantly widened their stance, but even then, they almost lost their balance. Mara reflexively checked the others in front of her--- and noticed that the ceiling was dangerously bowing, about to cave in on the front of the group.

"Luke!" she warned him. She didn't wait for his assistance reaching out to shield the others with the Force.

She had barely begun to focus her control when Luke's much more skilled powers, steadied hers own, joining and reinforced their shield around both his family members and those who were coming right after them.

Then, to Mara's awe, the Jedi Master also pushed the ceiling plates back into the ceiling, wedging them into place while they hurried to walk under it.

Once they were all safe, he let go of the plates; it crashed loudly behind them.

"I think it's about time to get out of here," he muttered under his breath.

Mara wholeheartedly agreed with him, especially since the hard work had only begun.

******

TBC in part 6

Divided Heart
Part 6: Revelations
By SJ and Rhea Jediknight (skyjade@globetrotter.net and
jediknight@mail2master.com)
05-04-03/
____________________
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to us; everything belongs
to George Lucas. We're only writing stories for fun. See my homepage for more
details.
http://www.oocities.org/Area51/Quasar/3702
Special thanks to Rhea for bringing up the plot bunny of that story and
accepting to work on it with me :) Working with you is a pleasure, my
friend!
Rhea: Thanks to SJ for working on this with me. It's been fun!
____________________

After a few other near squeezes under falling ceiling plates, their group
managed to make it out of the generator building unscathed. On their way out,
they recovered Artoo Detoo, who had been trapped under a fallen wall and
perilously close to falling into a gaping hole.
Once outside, they gasped in horror as they saw the effect that the numerous
tremors had had on the city around them.
Buildings collapsed, or listed everywhere. There did not appear to be a
structure that had gone undamaged. The low groan of metal attested to the
unstable nature of the buildings around them.
As they gazed around them, Luke spotted a small shipyard was just a few meters
away. A large transport appeared undamaged, beckoning to them.
"It's not fancy, but right now I'm none to picky." Han muttered.
"Leia, take Han and the rest to the Medcenter. It should be fairly safe since it
was built on swaying struts." Luke instructed.
"But what about you? What do you intend to do?" Leia asked her brother.
Mara answered instead, "I have a pretty good idea where the Seismic Accelerator
was placed."
Luke nodded. They would go together.
"You're not going deeper? Luke, this isn't safe. The whole place might collapse
any second." Leia protested.
Luke met her gaze and seemed about to say something and then shook his head
instead, "We have to stop this thing, Leia, or none of us will be safe."
"I don't have time to argue with you, and . . . you're right. Just promise me
you'll be careful."
"I promise." Luke said solemnly.
"I'll take care of him, Leia." Mara said impishly.
Luke hid a smile behind his hand. Han chuckled, but the motion made him wince
and his wan grin turned into a grimace.
Luke and Leia's less-worried moods faded away to be replaced by concern about
their friend's state.
"All right. Call us the moment that you're safe," Leia warned her brother,
kissed him on the cheek while she held him as strongly as she could without
bouncing her husband anymore than she already had, then they parted company.
Mara and Luke watched as the rest of the group entered the vehicle. nce they
were sure that they had made it to safety, they headed toward the nearby Bothan
Embassy
"It's in through here," Mara said, sweeping her luma across the high-ceilinged,
darkened main entrance. Here too, the floor had already given into the strong
forces that had been pulling at it. It was peppered by several, baying holes.
Careful to not fall into any of them, the two Jedi slowly made their way forward
and toward the nearest stairwell, probing the sturdiness of the floor with both
the tip of their feet and the Force.
Just as they reached the main stairwell, a hand appeared out of one of the
surrounding doors and pulled Mara toward it. "Mara!" Terren Macay said as he
pulled her into his embrace, from which Mara expertly freed herself, dancing
around a nearby hole in the deck as she did so. The young man gave her a sad
expression, but she could feel that he was not hurt in the least by her
rejection.
"What are you doing here, Terren? How did you find me?" Mara asked
incredulously.
"I could find you anywhere, my dear. After all, we still have a bond through the
Force."
Mara frowned even as Luke's eyes went wide and his barriers slammed into place.
She wanted to explain to him, that the bond was nothing like the one she
experienced with the Jedi Master, but Luke had blocked her off completely. Now
was not the time to be stubborn!, she wanted to shout at him, then chose another
tactic to communicate with the frustrating farmboy.
She confronted Macay's lie.
"Really, Terren?" she perched an eyebrow at the other. "Then why did it take you
so long to discover that I was even alive? You did say that you thought that I
had died in the destruction of the Second Death Star."
Even as she felt Luke's senses open once again as he understood what she had
just implied with her challenge, Terren's face twisted in an ugly, evil grimace.
Luke reacted instantly.
"Mara watch out!"
At the same time, the ex-assassin noticed that Terren had somehow pulled a
blaster from behind him and was almost already aiming at her. Before she had
cleared her own weapon, or moved out of the way, Luke pushed her out of the path
of the already incoming blaster bolt.
As she landed on a sturdy part of the deck, the Jedi took the brunt of the
impact in his shoulder. Just then another tremor hit, challenging the young
man's balance further. When the tremors worsened in strength, he uncontrollably
spun on his heel and fell into the nearby hole.
Mara yelled, "No!" and ran toward the falling Jedi, who had hit his head on the
edge of the deck before disappearing in the darkness. She could feel that he was
already unconscious unable to do anything to prevent his fall. She reached out
with the Force, attempting to grasp onto Luke's falling body. At first she
thought that she had succeeded, but Terren grabbed her arm, breaking her
concentration. The tremor slowly subsided as he pulled
her back to her feet.
Fury filled her. Her hand went to her lightsaber hilt, but her captor pulled
harder on her arm. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he warned, waving his
blaster menacingly in front of her eyes, angling it toward her jaw.
"Why did you do that Terren? Why!?" The anger and sorrow clouded her ability to
use the Force properly. Her green eyes filled with tears.
The sight of her mourning Skywalker enraged the ex-Imperial," Tears for the Jedi
Master?" he sneered, then shoved her away from himself. "You disgust me, Mara.
The Emperor would be most displeased."
Stopping herself from falling into another hole of the deck, Mara swiftly turned
toward her enemy. "The Emperor is dead, Terren. He's a nightmare long gone from
my life."
"Ah, but there is another about to ascend the throne once again." Terren said.
A look of dawning comprehension came across her face, "You didn't find me
because of a Force bond, you came to stop us from taking out the Seismic
Accelerator. You're the one who is trying to destroy Coruscant."
"I'm surprised it took you this long to figure it out Mara. I was hoping that
you would join us, and I still hold out hope that you will remember where you
really belong."
As the truth penetrated her, Mara Jade quieted her mind, gathering the Force
around herself. Now in deeper touch with the Force, she felt a flicker of
awareness and realized that Luke Skywalker was injured but still alive. She had
to act fast if she wanted to save him and stop the accelerator from continuing
its destruction.
Terren's eyes narrowed, feeling the power of the Force build around the woman.
"I never belonged with you, Terren," she defied him, locking her green gaze on
his. "The Emperor twisted your mind, used you like he used me, but instead of
breaking free, you've allowed him to continue to rule you even years after his
death."
"It's not the Emperor that I serve, Mara. I have a new Master, one more powerful
then the Emperor ever dreamed."
Mara shook her head, not understanding the man.
"The Sovereign."
With her Force senses heightened, she suddenly felt the coming of the next
tremor. She timed her motion to coincide with the beginning of the quake. She
pulled her saber free, igniting it in one quick motion. Terren pulled the
trigger on his blaster and Mara blocked the bolt. It crackled against her blue
blade and deflected it back right into Terren's face. He barely dodged out of
the way in time; the bolt of burning energy left a red mark on his cheek.
Outraged by his injury, the other pulled another blaster from his belt and
opened fire on her.
Luke..., Mara thought reflexively as she delved deeper in her connection with
the Force.
Aware that her friend was still unconscious and on a precarious perch,
she opened her eyes and stepped closer to her enemy, skillfully walking on the
unstable floor as if it were not half-destroyed. Her blue blade kept flashing
right and left in the darkness, intercepting bolt after bolt of deadly energy.
"You will pay for your betrayal, Jade," Terren snarled as his shots became
more rapid in an attempt to break past her guard.
Closing her eyes to focus on her center of awareness, Mara allowed the Force
to flow freely through her, guiding her through her defense like Luke had
taught her to do ever since she had begun to train with him. Taking a deep
breath, she intercepted a new blaster bolt with her saber; then, remembering
that shooting had never been Terren's forte, nor had the combination of
different types of attacks at the same time, she planned her next move.
Taking a deep breath, she blocked yet another shot, angling her blade in front
of her chest as she did so, then, maintaining her weapon and hand at that level,
she dropped low to the floor and closer to her assailant, then swept her legs
through his shins.
Even as the other fell down, suddenly losing his balance, she intercepted
another blaster bolt with her still deflecting saber; the bolt rebounded against
her blade and flew back in Macay's direction.
It hit him square in the chest as he fell on his back; by the time that he
touched base, he was dead.
Straightening to her feet, Mara barely spared him a slightly regretful gaze
as she realized that not so long ago, she had not been so very different from
Terren. She had only broken free from the Emperor with the help of Luke
Skywalker. Then, she whirled about and returned near the hole that had swallowed
the Jedi.

She peered into it, but could see no sign of Luke. She could not see any sign of
Luke. She had to descend through the deserted Embassy complex then. But that
was all right, she thought as she hurried to reach the nearby stairs, it was
where she had to go anyway. The seismic accelerator could only be found in the
lower basement, at ground level, so going down for Luke, or going down to save
the planet, she still needed to reach the only ground level of this area of the
city.
As she considered her plan though, a new round of quakes hit; it finished the
tear lose the remaining structures of the upper staircases. They came crashing
down on the lower ones, effectively cutting off Mara's route. Behind her, the
holes of the floor kept widening so much that she reflected that a ship would
fit through the hole----
She stopped on her thought.
A ship. Or a speeder!
Raising her head to look in the direction of the entrance of the complex, she
suddenly remembered that she had come to this location aboard Skywalker's YP.
She prayed the Force that it would still be waiting for her near the generator
complex. Then, closing down her lightsaber, she gathered the Force to her once
again and leaped far and above the still enlarging gap. After landing on the
once again shaking deck, she ran as fast as she could toward the exit.
Five seconds later, she vaulted over its edge, barely settled in the pilot seat,
then revved the engines and flew toward the edge of the platform. She angled the
nose of the vehicle downward and dove at full throttle toward the lower levels
were Luke's dim presence was still detectable.
As she skillfully avoided askew girders and other falling obstacles, she
remembered the way Luke had taken the blaster bolt that was intended for her. No
one else would have been willing to sacrifice their life for her. How could she
have allowed Terren to trick them like that? And why had it taken her so long to
realize how important Skywalker was to her?
Quickly whipping her head around to scan the different levels as she zipped past
them, she tried to feel his presence. He was closer now, and using the Force to
guide her. She suddenly righted her speeder, efficiently halting her descent.
Fortunately for her, Skywalker had chosen his speeder well and the engines were
able to compensate for her maneuver without failing.
Swiftly, she brought her speeder closer to the structure, looking for a place to
enter. Then, she spotted him. A long swaying bridge was crossing an abyss;
Luke's limp form was slumped in the middle of the durasteel walkway. Slamming on
the breaks, Mara jumped out of her speeder and ran toward him, aware that sheer
luck, or the power of the Force, had put the bridge in the pathway of his
descent. He was barely hanging on, his head lulling over the edge. His blond
hair hung down, so that Mara could not see his face, but she could tell that he
had not recovered his senses since falling.
She reached him, just as another tremor shook the building. The bridge swayed
under the effect of the strong geological forces, threatening the Jedi's
precarious balance as it did. She caught him just as he was slipping further
forward, preventing him from falling from the bridge. She pulled his unconscious
form off the unstable bridge, then onto a nearby platform. There, she set him
on her lap and held him against her chest. His left shoulder looked painful, but
the blaster wound had cauterized the skin, stopping the bleeding. As if he
sensed her presence, he moaned softly; Mara reflexively tightened her grip on
him. The tremor subsided and Luke's eyelids fluttered open.
"Hey, welcome back," she said softly.
His blue eyes searched hers, slowly taking in their situation, then he attempted
to sit up. Mara released her grip on him, but he seemed reluctant to leave her
arms.
"Are you alright? What happened to Terren?" he asked, his voice sounding dry,
unused.
"I'm fine, but I can't say the same about him." Mara said simply. "Luke, I
wanted to tell you, about the Force bond." Luke shook his head, but Mara
continued, "I could communicate with Terren, but I didn't have a bond with him,
not in the same way that I do with you."
"I know that, Mara. I figured that out when he tried to kill you." He smiled
slightly.
"Why did you do that?"
"Did what?" Luke asked.
"Why did you take the blaster bolt that was intended for me?"
Luke's hand cupped her cheek and he said, "I couldn't let you die, Mara."
"But you almost died yourself." Mara said, her heart constricting at the
thought.

The Jedi Master could feel her pain at this thought and it gave him the courage
to share his feelings, "I would have died anyway, if you were no longer in my
life."
She started to shake her head in denial, and he continued, "You know it's true,
Mara. I know you can feel my heart, just as I can feel what's in yours."
Mara's eyes went wide and she didn't protest when Luke sat up and pulled her
into a kiss. Their lips moved sensually, their bodies pressed intimately
together. Everything became centered on this one point, nothing else existed.
There was just Luke and Mara. She felt as if her blood was on fire and that her
heart would pound out of her breast. She could no longer form a coherent
thought, all she could do was feel. The Force swelled around them, binding them
on an even deeper level. Luke pulled back, gasping, trying to draw air into his
lungs, overwhelmed by the pleasurable sensations caused by their kiss and their
joining in the Force.
They gazed at each other in amazement, both of them too moved to speak.
Then the tremors started again. Mara was the first to act, "We don't have much
time, we have to get to the accelerator before it's too late."
Luke nodded, and he smiled faintly, putting a fingertip to Mara's mouth before
reluctantly standing up.
With her help, Luke hobbled as fast as he could toward the nearby speeder.
His speeder, he belatedly realized when they were just beside it. "How did this
get here?" he inquired while he slipped in the passenger seat, following Mara as
she edged toward the pilot seat.
She shrugged. "Short Stuff took me to it."
Lifting his hand to his head, Luke winced as a headache quickly took shape
behind his temple. "Artoo? So you were at my quarters then?"
"I was trying to prevent something from happening to you, but couldn't reach
you." Mara's voice was sardonic, "Now, tighten your seat belt. The flight
downward might be bumpy."
As if to concur her statement, new tremors shook the remaining struts. "I just
hope that we'll be on time to save the planet from breaking up," Luke muttered
while he obeyed her.
"Yeah, let's just hope," she said wryly, then ignited the engines to their full
power.
Luke's stomach leapt into his throat when then dove nose-first toward the
undistinguishable lower levels of the city.

After minutes of dodging and break-neck piloting, they finally reached their
targeted level. Mara reduced their speed, then righted their trajectory. The
powerful headlights of the speeder illuminated the surrounding concrete walls of
what had once been some type of building. While she kept her blaster handy, her
companion held his lightsaber handle in his right hand; both pair of eyes were
darting back and forth around them, searching for clues that would inform them
about the location of their enemy.
*Any ideas?*" Mara inquired through the Force.
*Not really, you? You said that---*
*What?* she inquired, focusing her eyes on him as she felt him freeze as if in
horror.
"Ahead and to our left, do you feel what I feel?" he whispered.
Following his instructions, she reached out to sense what he had detected. "I
can't find anything," she shrugged... then paused as she pondered her own words.
She reached out again; she truly couldn't find anything.
Not even the Force.
"They've got ysalamiri," Luke nodded grimly, "and they've probably heard us
coming by now. Do you have a plan?"
"I think we need to take a look from above then," she commented as she turned on
the engines and headed back the way they had come. The moment that they left the
ground, new tremors shook the walls of the surrounding building, which didn't
look like they could take much more of that rude treatment.
Mara noticed that they were increasing in strength with each repetition. *We'll
have to be careful to not lose footing, again,* she teased her companion.
She pulled the controls toward herself; the speeder climbed up a wall and
stationed itself beside a series of resisting girders.
"Ha, ha, very funny," the Jedi quipped. "As if I had meant to fall like that. I
would have been satisfied with only saving your life." He climbed out of the
speeder and held himself steady against the still shaking framework.
"And that's why I'm coming with you Jedi. To keep you out of trouble," she
teased him, following him onto the girder and sent: *hero.* She smiled at him.
*Hey, I like being the hero. Besides, the hero is always the one who gets to
kiss the maiden in distress,* he answered more seriously--- then quickly leaned
closer to her and pressed his lips fully against hers. She was startled, her
eyes wide. Once again, Mara was intoxicated by his powerful, naïve, and strong
presence. Despite the danger surrounding them, everything faded into the
background, as she returned his spontaneous kiss.
*Be careful,* he finally sent her, along with all his feelings of care and love,
then began to pick his way along the main struts of the metallic girder.
*Same to you,* she answered him as she followed him.
The quakes had yet to stop and were growing in intensity; they were running out
of time. Quickly and carefully, the two Jedi made their way back toward the
Force void. While Luke's usual blacks provided excellent camouflage in the
darkened corridors, Mara's light-blue, short-sleeved shirt shone more like a
beacon for the enemy. Thus, they stopped advancing the moment that they spotted
the enemy's presence in the distance.
They were also outside of the ysalamiri bubble.
Luke and Mara crouched low, hanging onto the main frame of their perch ,
continuing to sway from the ongoing quakes. No less than ten troopers were
forming a semi-lose circle around a protuberance that was almost completely
buried in the ground. They had found the Seismic Accelerator. The troops were
carrying ysalamiri frames on their backs.
*Do you think you can take care of the lizards from here?* Luke inquired through
the Force, turning his head toward her.
*I can probably shoot five of them before they spot us, but the moment they are
alerted, we'll be exposed and we don't have much protection from their blasters.
Unless...* she paused briefly.
"I should be able to block with my saber any shots that come our way. I think
it's the best plan that we have." Luke assured her.
With his left arm injured, he would have a harder time wielding his lightsaber,
but he didn't have any other choice, he reminded himself. He would have to 'do'
it, once again.
He could feel her hesitation and he assured her, *We don't have many other
options,* he replied grimly. *We'll have to time it just right if this is going
to work.*
*It might be best if we concentrated, merging our resources* Mara said.
Luke met her gaze, knowing that she was suggesting that they connect on a deeper
level, merging their minds to operate on a more efficient and intimate level. He
nodded slowly, and then smiled slightly. He couldn't help but be touched by her
wiliness to trust him, even though it was only common sense that this would
increase the likelihood of their survival.
Mara nodded, then edged closer to him, making sure her aim was clear of any
obstruction, then pulled her pocket blaster from her wrist holster.
As he watched her prepare herself, Luke dimly made a note to himself to ask her
one day about the story behind her blaster set. He had never seen anything that
even closely resembled her peculiar weapon. It was intriguingly unique, just
like the red head that owned the blaster.
Then, the time for introspection was gone and Luke began to focus. He could feel
Mara's shining presence in the force, they stood just outside the empty zone
created by the ysalmiri. It would take a tremendous amount of concentration to
react quickly to the shots as they entered the meager area between them and the
void. He would not be able to sense the blaster fire until it cleared the empty
zone, leaving him no room for error. When the troopers became aware of their
presence, he would have to block all of the shots while Mara destroyed the
remaining lizards. With each ysalmiri that Mara took out, it would become a
little easier for him to maintain their protective barrier.
Luke focused his complete attention on Mara, deepening his awareness with the
beautiful red head. Almost instantaneously, he could hear her thoughts, and
sense her professionalism as she estimated the distance of each target as she
prepared to fire at their enemy's lizards. The young woman barely warned him
before she initiated the attack. Careful to not disturb her he watched,
captivated, aware that he was witnessing the side of her that was the result of
her training as the Emperor's assassin. However, unlike what he might have
thought, this side of her didn't upset, or repel him. Instead, the more he
watched her at work, the more he realized that the Emperor had merely used
Mara's abilities. He was seeing her as he had never seen her before and she
captivated him.
Two bolts of energy quickly left her weapon. By the time the first ysalmiri had
fallen, Mara was aiming at the third. It made a low moan and then slumped the
moment the blaster bolt hit true. She quickly disposed of the fourth creature.
Luke couldn't help but gape at her shooting skills. Even though he himself was
considered to be an expert, he realized that her skills surpassed his own.
The troopers were at first startled by the sound of blaster fire and quickly
spotted them on the ground level. They ran closer, and opened fire on them. Luke
quickly turned on and raised his saber, fighting past his aching left shoulder
to do so, and deflected the first blasts back at the closest trooper. Mara
continued to fire at the next target--- while the remaining five troopers
focused their intense blaster fire at them continuing to run toward them. Luke
understood that the troopers were intending to cut them off from the Force by
bringing them within the influence of the remaining ysalmiri. They knew that if
they managed to come a few meters closer to them, he and Mara would once again
be within a Force void. As he continued to fight against his body's messages of
complaint, he pondered how the enemy had known that they would need ysalmiri in
the first place?
Luke and Mara were aware that the only way to survive their predicament was for
them to quickly dispatch the remaining guards with their ysalmiri frames on
their backs. Mara attempted to open her mind more fully to Luke. She lowered all
her barriers; her spirit merged with Luke's, allowing them to work on the same
pattern of thought. Their coordination was precise. They became an extension of
one another.
She managed to kill three more lizards---- when a glancing bolt caught Luke in
the left shoulder blade, the pain searing through both of them as it
reverberated though their link. They were knocked out of their Force connection.
Luke then lost his balance and weapon and fell from their perch. Recovering her
breath, Mara used the Force to stash her blaster in her waistband at the small
of her back while she reflexively threw herself along the horizontal support.
She extended her hand and used the Force to pull Luke back toward her.
She unfortunately caught him by his injured arm, aggravating the injury by
pulling all his weight on his bad shoulder. Luke, who was still reeling from the
attack, recovered his senses at that and gritted his teeth against a cry of
pain. His eyes sought hers--- then the Force was gone. The troopers had
surrounded them.
They were trapped.
But how had they failed? she wondered while she warily eyed the troopers who
were under them. She shouldn't have killed the ysalamiri, she then reflexively
rebuked herself when she caught sight of Luke's grimacing features; she should
have taken out the troopers. But if she had done so, she reminded herself, she
would not have acted as a Jedi. Luke had taught her well to choose life over
death. "Give me your other hand, Luke," she told him while she tried to
reposition herself for better balance.
"Aaaah," Luke groaned when he tried to reposition himself. "It hurts too much."
"My, my, my," a hauntingly familiar low voice sneered from below them. "What a
touching sight, yet such a waste. Still, it should provide my troops with
adequate target practice."
A new bolt of energy hit Luke in the foot; he was unable to suppress a yelp of
new pain. He tried to twist around and see who had spoken. Mara tightened her
grip on his hand. The troopers held their blasters aimed at them. There had to
be a way out of this, the ex-assassin thought desperately. If only she could spy
an opening, she would be able to save her friend, whom she loved. She was also
pretty sure now that he loved her too.
They would get through this, she promised herself. She would not allow the enemy
to kill them now that they had finally found each other.
New bolts of energy filled the air around them; Mara reflexively twisted her arm
around itself, trying to protect Luke from further injuries. When the bolts
stopped coming, she and Luke glanced at each other, then turned toward the
source of the latest bolts.
"You should have kissed me with more feeling Skywalker," the other sneered, her
voice becoming clearer as she stepped closer. "When you walked away from me, you
signed your own death warrant," she continued her voice dripping with menace.
She stepped out of the shadows.
Both Mara and Luke gasped in shock as their enemy's identity became apparent.

TBC in part 7: Secrets Revealed
Divided Heart
Part 7: Secrets Revealed
By SJ and Rhea (skyjade@globetrotter.net and jediknight@mail2master.com)
05-04-03

___________

Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to us; everything belongs to George Lucas. We're only writing stories for fun. See my homepage for more details.
http://www.oocities.org/Area51/Quasar/3702

Special thanks to Rhea for bringing up the plot bunny of that story and
accepting to work on it with me :) Working with you is a pleasure, my
friend!
Rhea: Thanks to SJ for working on this with me. It was fun.
_____________________

"Tarrintha!?", Luke gasped almost inaudibly. His shoulder felt as if his arm was slowly burning away from his body, and he couldn't move his foot anymore without adding to his pain.

"I thought that you had left the planet," Mara grunted while she tried to pull him up once again.

The moment that she pulled on his arm, he groaned loudly as he tightened his grip on her hand, in a silent pleading for her to stop. There was no avoiding the excruciating pain of standing upright.

"Every commander knows better than to expose her real plans, Emperor's Hand," Tarrintha sneered contemptuously.

Luke suddenly realized that the two women were eluding to events that he had no knowledge of; he glanced up at Mara. She appeared shell-shocked.

"Oh yes," the blond woman commented maliciously. She stood below their position now, a lizard-carrying trooper right on her heels. "Terren and I where perfectly aware that you were eavesdropping in that room, Jade. We put on quite a show, wouldn't you agree?"

"You wanted to kill both Luke and me along with all the others," Mara barely breathed. Her grip slowly loosened Luke's hand as the horror gripped her. How had she been so blind?

Luke tried to prevent himself from slipping further down. He had barely begun to tighten his grip when the resulting jolt of pain almost forced him unconscious. He managed to barely push back the darkness that tried to claim his vision before he lost another millimeter of Mara's hand. The tremors hit again, and the red-headed woman reflexively tightened her grip on Luke's palm. Mara slipped down, falling at an awkward angle. Luke closed his eyes, preparing himself for a fall. If he could only feel the Force again. Things did not look good.

******

At the medical center, the corridors were filled with injured people. While the citizens with ships as well as the military, had taken to the air and were praying for a miracle about the shield generator, many more were left stranded on the self-destructing planet.

Leaving Han in the capable hands of a 2-1B unit, Leia chose to assist the medics as well as she could. Even though her subordinates had contacted her insisting that she leave the ground immediately, she had ignored them. Instead, she had abandoned her comlink on a nearby shelf and had decided that she would not be protected in a glass tower when the average citizens were suffering from an attack against her government.

She could not abandon them to their fate; she would be with them. She trusted her brother and Mara Jade to destroy the accelerator, but if they failed, then it would be the will of the Force. Others would pick up the flame of Freedom once she would be gone. Her work was important, but she was not essential to the galaxy.
Thus, after getting a refresher course on how to bandage minor bleeding and how to monitor the vital signs of the injured, she assisted the medical team to do triage, determining who needed urgent treatment and who could afford to wait.

She was just beginning to check on a young man laying on a cot, when she recognized him. Leia had seen him at a function just recently. He was Tarrintha's aide, she suddenly remembered. He was gravelly injured.

"What happened?" she asked while trying to rouse him. She checked his pulse; it was slowly fading away.

"The... Danger..." he whispered very weakly, "Princess... Tar... danger..."

"Yes, we know that she's a traitor," she nodded grimly at him. "We will go after her once this is over. Who did this to you?" She pressed a bacta bandage against bleeding chest. He had been shot alongside the heart.

"Rrrrrr,..." the man gurgled incoherently, then fell unconscious.

"No!!" Leia roused him, clapping her hands around his head. All of a sudden, she could feel that the knowledge that he possessed, his secret, was of the utmost importance if they were to survive. She was convinced that he held the key to their enemy's plans. "Wake up!" she almost screamed in his ears.

The man groaned weakly.

"Who attacked you? Where is the Princess?"

"H... he... re...." the injured man barely breathed... then she felt his life- Force leave him as his body succumbed to the fatal injuries.

Leia swallowed hard, affected by his death, as she considered his last words. The ex-princess of Alderaan closed his eyes as she slowly, almost painfully, covered his face with a blanket.

He...re, he had said, here!!!!!---- The traitor was still on the planet going after Luke! She realized in horror even as she understood exactly where on the planet the traitor was. Quickly abandoning her duties as a nurse, she returned to Han's side. She had to consult with him before she attempted to find her brother and warn him.

******

Even as Mara felt herself pitch forward, she swiftly extended both of her legs behind her and wove them tightly around the crisscrossing struts, successfully securing her position. Then, she extended her free hand toward Luke to seize his slippery hand.

"Terren's greatest wish was to have you watch Skywalker die," the blond-haired woman said ominously. She spread her legs wide, maintaining her balance as the ground continued to roll. It seemed as if the very planet was complaining about the torture it was experiencing. No longer garbed in expensive finery, Tarrintha Goule had the appearance of an experienced military commander. Except for the imperial crest on her left arm, her uniform was devoid of any sign of rank or insignia. "Personally, I wanted you two to come to me, to learn of my role in your death."

"And what about Terren? Would he have ruled at your side?" Mara asked despite herself.

Luke craned his neck and threw her a questioning glance. Enemy or not, she silently told him, the man had used to be her friend, and that woman had coldly accepted him death, unremorseful.

"If he had survived," she shrugged, confirming to her that was indeed aware of Terren's demise, somehow, "I would have used him, but it was Skywalker that I really wanted by my side."

The quakes subsided again. She casually took another shot at them, the bolt barely grazing Luke's chest. The Jedi barely had enough mobility to writhe away from it. She was playing with them, carelessly torturing them as they talked.

She was not so different from the Emperor. He enjoyed playing with his prey and he had also greatly desired Skywalker at his side, Mara thought. She wished that she could use the Force to determine if the woman was Force-sensitive or not. But then, Mara frowned to herself, if she had the Force, her priority would be saving both of their lives

Then an idea struck her. Mara focused on the troopers who were slowly stepping away in order to acquire a better vantage in with to aim their weapons at them. There were only three ysalamiri left, and with each new death the bubble would diminish in size---

"Tarrintha!" Luke tried a suddenly appeal to the woman. Tarrintha had continued taking potshots at him. "Avenging yourself against me, Mara, and whoever else has ever hurt you is understandable, but you will destroy an entire planet in your quest for revenge. A planet on which when it is destroyed will kill you as well."

"I'll be long gone before this place collapses around us, Jedi," she sneered. "But it is nice to know that you care a little for me." She said sarcastically.

"But first, so that you don't miss my absence, I'll have to take you out of your misery. I'm going to enjoy the pleasure of punishing you for your lack of vision. With the New Republic gone, combined with your death, which will cripple the Jedi, the galaxy will be mine."

"You are deluded, Tarrintha if you think that is enough to gain power," Mara sneered in disdain. "I remember what happened when the Emperor held a similar discourse with me." Aware that Mara would not provoke the other unless she had a plan, Luke craned his neck painfully to meet her gaze. Shifting her grip on his hand, she mimicked her blaster with her right hand, then pretended to slip a little and raised it back on the girder's level.

She was preparing to draw and shoot, he realized. However, no matter how fast his friend was, they were sitting targets in their current position. As if to answer his worry, Mara pretended to slip again as a new round of quakes even stronger than before, shook them, and he understood what she had in mind. If it worked, he promised himself as he focused his gaze on the ground below them, he would never call Han a dare-devil again.

The smuggler had met his match now. "Well Jade, do you have any vital and meaningless platitudes to exchange with the Jedi before he dies before your eyes? Terren might be gone, but his last wish will be fulfilled."

"I don't think so!" Mara spat, then let go of her perch as she pulled her blaster from her back. Both Luke and Mara fell full speed toward the hard, unwelcoming ground. As Mara's first bolt made it past Luke's falling body, the Empress's shot missed Luke's head by a few centimeters. Mara's shot struck one of the remaining lizards, allowing the Force to flow back into them.

Luke quickly used the Force to shield them both against the blaster fire, and with his incredible control, managed to halt their descent. Thrown off guard, the Imperials' bolts hit the ground where they would have landed, had Luke not stopped their fall in time. As Luke levitated them safely to the ground, Mara shot the remaining ysalamir, eliminating the trooper at the same time.

By the time the Force void was gone, the ground had ceased shaking; Luke recovered his fallen weapon and both Jedi ignited their lightsabers.

"Shoot!!" the princess ordered, ducked low to avoid Mara's aim. She aimed her blaster at the two Jedi, the weapon spat bolt after bolt of energy at them. Her troops immediately complied with her orders, attacking their two targets. Tarrintha aimed at Luke's injured foot.

Despite Luke's best attempt to ignore or dampen his pain, he was unable to suppress the debilitating signals of his body. He managed to block and sometimes deflect the troopers' bolts, but he was unaware of the princess' attack.

This time, her shot hit true, hitting him in the back, missing a kidney by mere millimeters.

Mara felt Luke's pain when he crumpled under the debilitating injury. Both grief and rage caused her to abandon all caution, and she jumped within easy range of their attackers.

The troopers fell easily before her slashing blue lightsaber. Once they were gone, she focused on Tarrintha. The she-devil was aiming her blaster at Luke's head, as if reveling in this moment and enjoying the pleasure of seeing him in pain. A cruel smile spread across Tarrintha's face.

For a moment, Mara realized that the sneer could have been on her own face. She had been so like Tarrintha just a few years ago. It was easy to believe that she could have been the one about to kill Luke Skywalker...

But she had learned that she did not want him dead. Mara wanted him very much alive, at any costs. She threw her weapon at the princess' blaster, effectively slicing its tip, incapacitating the weapon. Mara she jumped at the woman, her right foot extended directly at her head.

To her surprise, Tarrintha side-stepped from her path, then, as Mara landed beside the her, the princess turned around and moved to hit her with a flat of her palm in the stomach.

Mara slipped her arm in front of herself just in time to block the blow. For a long moment, determined green eyes met hatred-filled brown ones. The two young women exchanging hits; the ground around them shook harder than ever, punctuating the impacts of quick kicks and jabs.

Mara tried to surprise her opponent with a series of quick punches, then a thrust to the jaw. The princess blocked all her swift moves with quick defensive moves, then delivered a direct kick. It was Mara's turn to block her; the two of them were once again at a stalemate, their techniques equally matched. Tarrintha launched herself at Mara, intent on tackling her. Acting on reflex, the red-head rolled with the impact, then, after positioning her feet against the other's chest, shoved her backward. She then rolled backward and regained her feet.

When Mara turned to face Tarrintha though, she froze in horror. The all-too- familiar snap-hiss of a lightsaber filled the silence, the sight of her blue blade illuminated the shadows of the princess' face. "Say goodnight to your lover boy, traitor," the evil blond-haired hissed. She seemed about to say something else when an surprised expression crossed her features. She opened her mouth and a gurgled moan came out instead. A bright green lightsaber pierced her chest, and the princess glanced down before the blade dropped to the ground slicing cleanly through the rest of her body.

A few meters away from them, Luke lowered his hand, collapsing back onto his back, groaning loudly in pain. Tarrintha's body dropped to the floor. Luke's lightsaber hilt rolled away. Recovering from her shock, Mara rushed to Luke's side. He was seriously injured, but his vital signs were stable.

"We can't... leave the Accelerator," he whispered.

"I'm not leaving you here. I can carry you to the speeder," she stated while she called both of their weapons to her hands. She couldn't abandon him, but then she couldn't leave the accelerator to continue it's destruction; she couldn't let Luke die.

"It's all right," he whispered faintly, as if reading her thoughts, "don't... worry,... just stop the accelerator, Mara," he insisted. "... you can stop it..." His head lulled to the side as he fell unconscious.

For a brief moment, Mara debated with herself whether she should leave Luke's unconscious form here, but knew that it was up to her to save Coruscant and by doing that she would save Luke in the process.

She darted to the seismic accelerator and swiftly ran her eyes up and down the computer pad; she typed in the terminate command.

A droid voice stated, "Shut down will be initiated once confirmation has been received. Provide authorization now."

Mara frantically raked her mind, trying to think of the correct password. As she considered Terren's role in the plan, a first possibility came to her mind. She typed in, "Palpatine."

"Invalid Password. Self destruct initiated in ten minutes."

"Kreth!" she cursed, then belatedly realized that Tarrintha's people were the ones who had created the weapon. So what would the princess use as a code?, she wondered, throwing a glance in the direction of the deceased princess.

She typed in "Tarrintha"

"Self destruct accelerated, two minutes until destruction."

Mara groaned in worried annoyance, then glanced at Luke's prone form. She knew that they could never escape the explosion, but if she typed in the wrong code it would also be the death of both of them. She didn't want to kill him... not now, not ever... Tearing her gaze away from what might be the last sight that she would get of her dear friend, she refocused on the problem at hand. Tarrintha had programmed this, she thought grimly. She knew the princess now. Her weakness..--- had been her vanity and her insatiable desire for power!

Suddenly remembering the princess' secret, she tried to remember how Terren had referred to her while they had been fighting.

She glanced over at Luke once again and said softly almost as if it were a vow, "I love you." It was brief, and sounded insignificant to her ears, unable to express the depth of her emotions. And yet she projected all of her emotions, desires, and hopes to the unconscious Jedi, hoping that even in his current state he would know how she felt.

As if to answer, the unconscious man stirred slightly, but did not rouse.

Their time was up. It was now or never. She punched in her last command. One way or another, it would be over. Whether it worked or not, she would either save the planet, or she and the one she loved would die together.

"Sovereign."

Green lights instantly flickered on and off along the circular end of the tubular accelerator. Whirring and hissing sounds also came from the contraption; surrounding them. The shakes resumed with an intensity that left no doubt as to the coming fate of the planet. Feeling her heart freeze in her chest, Mara's eyes darted in Luke's direction. She had failed; they would die together. It was unfair. They would never have the chance to share their life, Luke would never know how she felt. She rose to her feet, intent on being with him when in their final moment.

Then the mechanical voice spoke again. "Termination sequence aborted. Powering down."

The quakes quickly subsided. The ground grew still; the air suddenly quiet. Mara, who was halfway between the accelerator and Luke's location, stopped in her tracks and released a long breath of relief. She pushed the damp hair off her forehead. It was over.

"That was too close," she whispered as she closed the distance between her and Luke, who had begun to stir. Luke tried to sit, but groaned, and collapsed back once again. "Ah!" he gasped; his hand settling on his injured hip.

"Lie still, farmboy," Mara soothed him. He could feel her slip down to the ground behind him, and then she propped his head on her lap. "It's over now; we have all the time in the galaxy to get you to safety without any need to aggravate that wound."

"It's really over?" he asked her faintly, his awareness drifting slightly in and out.

"Yes," she smiled softly at him, then bent forward and kissed him hard and long on the lips. *We're safe now, and I can't wait to share the future with you, Luke,* she sent him as she lowered all her barriers, allowing him to feel the depth of emotions, exposing her true feelings for the Jedi.

Luke was amazed by this sudden act; he basked in the moment, enjoying her love and concern while revelling in the physical sensation of her lips caressing his own as they continued the passionate kiss.

She loved him! She really, truly loved him. He was her former nemesis, a mere farmboy-turned-Jedi Master, who always got on her nerves----

*I couldn't tell you how I felt, but I was not 'always' angry at you,* his companion replied silently, then pulled away from their kiss and smiled down at his relaxed face. He was still only half-conscious, but he was sure that he would remember this moment for the rest of his life with absolute clarity.

"Just remember that when I'm old and gray;haired and still manage to rage at you, Jedi," she breathed softly.

Like Leia and Han, Luke belatedly understood the true meaning of her words. "So," he whispered, a smile making it past his pain, "I take it that you really mean business with me, huh?"

"Forever," his companion nodded, then kissed him again. Even though Luke was aware that he was not dreaming this time, he could barely believe that he was truly there with Mara. She had just told him that she was not averse to their being together for the rest of their lives together. He could see with a clarity that he immediately understood was a Force vision, that they would be married. After years of strife, conflicts, and somewhat-distant friendship...

"Odd isn't it?" Mara agreed, quenching her feeling of worry. Sure that he would be all right, and allowed her the deep love that she felt for this man to surface. He rested his head on her lap.

"What?" Luke smiled weakly at her.

"You and I together," she replied, gazing down at his handsome face. Even backward, he looked gorgeous, and he was the only man whom she had actually ever used such an adjective to describe.

"What are we going to do?" she asked him as images of Luke's family, the government, and the rest of the galaxy rose before her. So many would oppose their union...

"I have a couple of suggestions," Luke answered her thoughts, "but I can promise you this, Mara," he continued weakly yet solemnly, "no one will ever take me away from your side. Not ever."

Feeling tears of joy fill her eyes, she bent down once again and kissed him long and lingeringly until both of them were once again breathless.

"Well," a very familiar, teasing voice commented from behind them, "told ya' that they would be more than able to handle themselves," Han Solo smirked at his wife as he winked at the two lovers.

Mara pulled back to regard the Solos. Beside Han, his wife gaped so widely that Mara felt as if she and Luke were about to be swallowed whole. Behind the couple, New Republic soldiers were streaming in while what looked like a team of techs hurried over to the accelerator.

Mara gazed down at Luke, who was as shocked as she was to see their friends approach. He hadn't sensed nor heard them coming.

*I guess what they say about love is true, huh?* he quipped tiredly through their bond.

*What is?*

*That it makes you oblivious to the rest of the world,* Leia answered for her brother.

Before Mara could answer her, the petite woman was beside them and hugging her. "Congratulations on both of your successes, Mara," she told her earnestly. "We'll never be able to thank you enough for saving the planet, and I," she continued more gently, "am glad that you and Luke have come together, at last."

Mara was too shocked by Leia's sudden admission to reply. The other woman understood her. She sent to her. *Don't worry, you'll get used to being loved, especially with Luke around,* she winked silently.

They turned their heads and watched over Luke as Han and a few medical techs transferred him onto a floating stretcher, which was then steered toward the landing medical ship.

Not surprisingly, Luke complained about the upcoming bacta treatment all the way to the shuttle. Shaking their heads in mutual and newly-gained understanding, both women exchanged a wry grin, then headed toward the shuttle. They were both aware that the medical teams would need their help to keep Luke in check until he was healed.

Behind them, the safety teams, under the watchful eye of General Madine, finished pulling the accelerator from the ground. Coruscant was saved, and a new life was beginning for the two Jedi lovers.

******

Epilogue: A few months later

Even though Leia had an important role in the planning of their wedding celebration, Mara reluctantly conceded that the event had not been as pompous, nor as crowded as she had feared.

Instead, it had been a mostly intimate affair, with a 'mere' two-hundred or so guests. The party, afterward, had been more widely attended, accessible to the press and gossipvids of the galaxy, but once again, her new family had made sure that the strangers would not become a hassle to either her or her new husband.

So in short, she summarized to herself as she gazed out the balcony of their new apartment, the day had been as magical and as perfect as she had wanted it to be.

And she was now part of Luke's family; she was not alone anymore. Nor would she ever be. Unlike her false family in the Empire, or even her adoptive family, with Karrde's organization, Luke and his family had truly accepted her. They knew her, understood her, and did not expect anything in return for their welcome, except her own affection and support of her new husband Luke Skywalker. She was one of the family, and it was an odd, yet pleasant sensation. A soft smile touched her red tinted lips. She would never allow anything nor anyone to harm her beloved husband.

Luke slipped his arms around her waist and snuggled against her back. He rested his chin in the crook of her neck and bare right shoulder.

"Ditto here," he replied softly.

As usual, he had known what she had been thinking, and once again, she didn't mind. She had used to resent the fact that Luke had such a close, seemingly-unexplainable link with her, but after many years of true and honest friendship with him, she had come to understand that she was lucky to be able to share this bond with another.

They were one now, bonded through the rituals of marriage, but also through the Force, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Leaning her head to the side, she rested it against Luke's while she pressed her body closer to his. "Thank you, Luke," she whispered, then shifted her neck and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for being there for me, even when I didn't know that's what I wanted. I so wish that we had not wasted so much time to understand our feelings."

"So do I. I can't help thinking that we would have avoided the Carriban incident if I had been brave enough to express my feelings for you earlier."

"And I wonder how I couldn't see Macay's game. It wasn't me, Luke," she continued more seriously, turning around until she was facing her still tuxedo-clothed companion. "How could I fall for him the way I did?"

"Because he was a part of you that had to come back to the surface one last time, my love," Luke answered serenely. "He knew it. That's why he played on your memories of the past, of your glorious days with the Empire. By doing so, he was aware that he was offering something that neither I, nor Karrde, could give you anymore, the thrill of danger. He reminded you of your nostalgia of the past."

"Yes," Mara nodded, her wisps of hair caressing her neck as she did so, "that's what I deduced too, but," she smiled softly as she stepped closer to her husband, "Do you know what I have discovered while I briefly revisited the past, if only in thoughts?"

"Tell me," he smiled gently in return. She slowly wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her forearms on his strong shoulders.

"That I do not crave those things anymore. Oh, I admit that I love a good adventure then and again, and that having a business of my own is challenging enough to keep on my toes if I don't want to go bankrupt, but for a long while now, I had been looking for what I now hold in my arms. I love you, Luke." She pulled him down to her face and kissed him slowly, languorously, expressing her love through her actions and the Force.

Luke pulled her closer, his strong hands splayed across her back to support her while she felt that he, like her, didn't want the moment to end. As usual though, their need to breathe eventually forced them apart. "I love you too, Mara."

For a long moment, they simply gazed at each other, taking in the sight of each other. Then, Luke pulled slightly away and reached for the pocket of his dark blue jacket. He pulled out a small package. "By the way, I think that you forgot a gift back at the reception," he teased her slightly, then set the package in the palm of her right hand.

"Luke," she shook her head in mild rebuttal. She had known for a long while that her farmboy was generous to a fault with those he cared about. After the wedding ring, the contract for upgrades to a ship of her choice, and the silk gown that he had given her, she was beginning to feel that she had to stop his generosity or he would use up what the rest of his credits on her.

"It's not from me," he answered, "or rather, not entirely from me," he amended when she gave him a stern glare.

Sighing in resignation, Mara pulled open the wrapping, then slowly opened the case. She gasped in shock as she realized what she was now holding in her hands. A holo of Talon Karrde suddenly appeared in the air, just above the registration chips of the Jade's Fire. "Mara, my friend," the smuggler smiled at her. "I truly wish that I could have been there today as you and Luke unite your lives to each other, but as you know, sometimes my business does not allow me certain privileges. However, I wanted to assure you that my absence was not linked to what happened between us. I always knew, deep in my heart, that you and Luke would someday wake up from your respective slumbers. I never had any real hope that you would fall in love with me. I will always care for you and be there for you, as a very good friend. Mara, you will always be welcome in the group, and you and Luke, will always be considered as special friends. As a wedding gift, I am giving you the Jade's Fire. It is your ship , Mara, has always been yours. May you, and your future family, be happy and safe while traveling the galaxy, and don't hesitate to drop by, even unannounced. May the Force be With You both," he smiled warmly, then the holo dissolved.

Mara was speechless, her knees were threatening to give way, and her breath was trapped in her throat. She had her own ship now. Karrde had gone against his deeply-seated principles of ownership and had truly given her the ship, not on a long-term loan, but as a wedding gift. Luke had known all about this! She suddenly understood the gift he had given her earlier that day.

"He didn't know exactly how to make up for his absence," Luke smiled when she refocused on his grinning features. "I simply made a suggestion. He has a special friendship with you. He made the decision to give you the registration for the Fire. I didn't influence his decision."

Yet Karrde had understood that Luke's suggestion would allow her the freedom to truly make her own choices, that by giving the Fire to her, he would give her the greatest gift that anyone had ever given to her, except for when Luke had freed her from the Emperor and his invisible chains of slavery.

"Thank you Luke," she told him earnestly, then kissed him again. This time, she didn't let go of him for a long, long while. She wanted to express her gratitude for everything he had done, and all that he had given her. He had selflessly tried to maintain her friendship with Kaarde, and in the process had secured the perfect ship for her.

The sound of Luke's YP speeder grew louder as it approached. When they parted the speeder was waiting by the balcony. Luke had used his remote control to call the ship to them. Mara made a mental note to get such a device for the Fire. Now that she was with Skywalker, she couldn't predict the future, and she truly had to be ready for anything.

Farmboy had a knack for getting into sticky situations, she smiled inwardly.
"How about checking out the ship right now?" Luke offered mischievously, then jumped lightly over the railing and in to the speeder. Despite still being garbed in her wedding gown, Mara followed suite.

"Where to?" she inquired as desire for this man filled her. She gave him a playfully lusty look.

If the Fire would be their ship from now on, then it about time that they claimed it. The idea of christening it appealed to her. She settled in the passenger seat and edged closer to Luke's side.

He smiled back, playing along. "Hmmm, well, I though we could recalibrate my x-wing," the young man said teasingly.

"Skywalker," Mara groaned at his sense of humor.

"What? You had something else in mind?" he asked, his voice suddenly deepening.

"Yeah," she smiled. Mara saw an opportunity to goad him, "How about I drop you in a bacta tank and return in about a week?"

The newly wedded couple burst into heartfelt laughter as they sped away from their apartment toward the private hangar where the Jade's Fire waited patiently for the adventures to come.

The End

Written by Rhea and SJ, 2003